Changes
by Brit.88
Summary: Out of frustration and anger Draco lets slip his biggest secret to Hermione. Now she is stuck being his secret keeper and despite his better judgment he has to try to trust her. Rated M for later chapters. Rewrite ignore publish date.
1. Confrontation

While sitting in class taking notes, Hermione was struck in the head by a ball of parchment. Hearing the familiar deep chuckle of the Slytherin prat Malfoy, she turned quickly around in her seat to glare at him.

"Do you have something to say to me mudblood, or do you just like what you see?" Draco said, before smirking over at his best friend Blaise.

"Let me give you some advice Malfoy. Instead of acting like a child why don't you actually pay attention? That way you might actually be able to turn yourself back after I transform you into the rat that you were always meant to be." Hermione said hotly.

Draco's eye's darkened as he quietly responded. "Don't think you can talk down to me Granger. Threaten me again and you'll really have a problem to deal with."

Hermione froze for a split second before she shook off the chill that ran down her spine. "Don't assume I'll be intimidated by your threats Malfoy. Keep talking and I _will_ curse you. I'm stressed enough as it is without having to hear your mouth."

Draco smirked, "Oh please Granger, you wouldn't have the guts to stand up against me. So just turn around and be the good little bookworm that your pathetic self can't help but be."

Without warning and with out any outward show of aggression, Hermione sent a spell at Draco. But having quick reflexes, he was able to deflect it and send it bouncing out of the classroom window, making the other students duck and jump out of the way.

"Miss Granger! Mr. Malfoy! What in the world has gotten into the two of you?" Professor McGonagall yelled at her disruptive students. "That will be 20 points taken off both your houses and a week's detention for the both of you, starting tomorrow at 8 o'clock!" the professor sharply turned back to her lesson with a slight edge to her voice as she went on.

Harry turned and whispered to Hermione, "What has gotten into you?" he asked his best friend with a slight smile on his face. "You usually ignore him and go on with your studies."

Hermione turned to face him. "I'm stressed out because of the N.E.W.T.'s, I've had late nights all week. Malfoy…well he was just the last straw, I can't take any of his prat attitude right now." She turned back to her notes trying to block out the dreadful feeling she felt. A weeks worth of detention was the last thing she wanted when she had N.E.W.T.'s to study for, granted they were still several months away. She just hoped she wouldn't have to spend the detention with Malfoy.

After class ended, Hermione and her two best friends headed down to their common room. Once they arrived there Hermione made them immediately start their homework. She wanted it out of the way so she could have the rest of the day to hang out amongst her friends.

Several hours later they finished. When they looked up at the clock they were happy to see it was time for dinner. After putting their stuff away they hurried off to the Great Hall. "Ron, slow down before you choke!" Harry said, trying not to laugh as he watched his red headed friend stuffing so many things into his mouth that he looked like a chipmunk.

Ron swallowed his food and took a large gulp of pumpkin juice, then turned to his friend with a toothy grin, "Mum thinks I'm havin' another growth spurt."

"Great, now I'll really look like a wimp next to you." Harry joked. Hermione just sat and watched her friends in amusement.

After dinner had ended, they all hit the showers. It was half past nine and they were sitting around in their pj's. Hermione was wearing boxer shorts and a long t-shirt, she hardly ever showed that much leg, but it was a warm night. The boys could appreciate the view of her with a sort of passive admiration. She had grown more self aware over the years, making her improve herself in little ways like straightening her hair and dressing more like a teenage girl and less like a tomboy.

The boys had one day realized that their friend was now a woman and had the appeal to attract men. This worried them for two reasons. One, they didn't want to lose their friend if ever she got into a relationship. And two they saw her as a sister and no guy would ever be good enough for her or could ever have the right to touch her. They especially boosted their protectiveness over her as they noticed that even a few of the Slytherin boys were following her with their eyes.

They felt lucky that Hermione seemed both unaware of her admirers and completely uninterested in finding a boyfriend, unlike most girls their age. However, they knew she wouldn't always be blatantly uninterested in being in a relationship. They just hoped that when she did find someone it would be a person that both deserves her and will treat her right. Because if he didn't they were both prepared to interfere in every possible way to protect her.

The next day after her classes were over Hermione said her 'see you later's' to her friends, and headed over to McGonagall's office for her detention. Seeing that Draco was already there waiting, she hastily sat down in front of her professor's desk.

"Now that you're both here, I'll be sending you off to the trophy room. That is where the both of you will be serving your detention for the next week, hand polishing every single trophy _without magic._" McGonagall looked sternly at each of them before sending them on their way.

Hermione groaned as she trailed behind Malfoy on their way to the trophy room. She was feeling thoroughly sorry for herself and could tell that it was going to be a long night.

Draco and Hermione entered the trophy room in silence and started polishing without so much as a sideways glance at one another. About a half an hour into their work, Draco discreetly started eyeing Hermione.

At first his eyeing was menacing, in his mind it was all her fault that he had to cancel the date he had with a very attractive Ravenclaw, and instead, spending the time he would have been making out, here tiring his wrists and hands polishing old trophies. However, his glare relaxed as she bent over to grab the polish on the floor. He tilted his head slightly and started to smirk when he suddenly became conscience of what he was doing. He abruptly turned away from her as his eyes grew wide in shock. He couldn't believe he just checked her out. He knew he was a fan of women but there was no way he would take it that far. Maybe she cursed him? He whipped his head around and eyed her suspiciously. He kept glaring at her with disgust showing plainly on his face. He was confident that he would never find someone like her appealing.

Hermione glanced back and had to do a double take, she was surprised to see Draco staring at her so harshly. She let out an exasperated sigh, "Jeez Malfoy, what is your problem?"

Draco said nothing at first; he simply gave her a cold smile and looked away. "Well, you're just so repulsive it's hard _not_ to gawk at you." He said as he picked up a half polished trophy.

When you've been made fun of your whole life for the way that you look, it makes it hard to ignore people when they remind you of that pain. "You're really a jerk you know that. What exactly is it about me that you hate so much?" Hermione snapped at him. "You don't even know me!"

"There's no need for me to know you personally. I know your kind." He snapped back, annoyed by her voice.

"Know my kind? What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like. You fit into a very specific category of people. You're the kind of overachiever that has no life because you have a compulsion to lock yourself in a quiet room and do nothing but study. You think you're doing yourself a favor because you're preparing yourself for your future. But what you don't realize is that you're really screwing yourself over. You'll end up being socially dense and won't know how to interact with people other than the few friends you have around you. It _is_ possible to study _and_ have a social life you know."

Hermione blushed. "You talk as if you have me all figured out, but people aren't as black and white as you obviously think they are. So before you open your mouth you should make sure you actually know the person, so that way you'll have some kind of valid authority on the matter. Otherwise you take the risk of making yourself look like a prat like you just did."

"So what, you want me to '_get to know you' _is that it? I think I'll have to pass on that one." Draco said with laughter in his tone.

"_No _that's not what I want. I would be happy if I never had to speak to you again for the rest of my life. I just think if you learned to open your eyes a little more and your mouth a little less, you might come to realize that you're wrong about most of the things you think about others. But you're so shallow and self-centered you'd rather sit on your throne and look down on everyone else. You're the most heartless, cruel, closed minded person I ever had the misfortune to know!" She said all of this in a rush of irritation and distaste.

"Stop acting so high and mighty Granger. I act the way I do towards you because I like to and that's how a mudblood should be treated, it's as simple as that. Now you seriously need to back the hell off you ignorant little mudblood!"Malfoy was now fuming with irritation. He hated having this back and forth conversation with her.

"Whatever Malfoy, I was just hoping that you might take my advice for once. We're stuck here with each other for three hours every night for a week. It would be nice if you would stop your petty judgments and try to be a little civil or to at least quietly ignore me and keep the glares to a minimum. But I guess you'd rather us both be miserable the whole time!" Hermione said with a mixture of exasperation and menace. Draco simply dismissed her words and continued to polish the trophy in his hands with rough violent movements.

Hermione couldn't understand what Malfoy's problem was. He treated her like she was constantly offending him. But she figured it had to do with her being muggle born. She turned back to her own work and decided to ignore his presence.

Draco was smoldering on the other side of the room. He hated that he let her irritate him so much. To him her existence didn't even matter so she shouldn't be able to get under his skin. While he was lost in his own thoughts he didn't notice the Slytherin girl walk into the room.

"Heeelloooo…! Draco! Snap out of it!" the Slytherin growled in frustration as she was trying to get his attention.

"Oh." He said in mild surprise. "Pansy what are you doing here? If you're caught in here and I get in trouble I'm really not going to be pleased." Draco stated, finally noticing her presence.

"I just wanted to come down and make sure _that," _She threw a dirty look over her shoulder at Hermione, who simply rolled her eyes and continued working,_ "_wasn't driving you mad."

"Do you really think I can't handle the mudblood?" Draco said a little darkly, Pansy drew back a little and didn't answer. Draco sighed and turned away from her as he said in a bored voice, "It really doesn't concern you either way." He glanced down at her. "You need to leave now."

This offended Pansy and hurt her pride. "Well _sorry_ for worrying about you! You don't need to act like that."

Draco was now aggravated, he turned again to look down at her. Hermione was amused when she glanced back and saw the thin 5'8" girl cower from Malfoy's well toned 6'1" frame. Hermione herself was only 5'3" and she had never let her intimidation of Malfoy's powerful form show as blatantly as Pansy was now. "I don't understand why you're concerning yourself in the first place." Pansy took another step back. "I broke off our relationship last month; there shouldn't be any reason for you to concern yourself with me anymore." Draco's voice was both irritated and malicious.

"I just care! Is that a crime?" Pansy snapped defensively. Draco just continued to stare down at her, waiting for her to leave. Pansy hesitated, not sure if she should continue. "I-I wanted to ask you something." Pansy said shyly. There was a pause where Pansy waited for Draco to respond.

"Well hurry up and ask already!" Draco snapped.

Pansy jumped and rapidly continued. "I wanted to ask you if you would…if you would take me back." Pansy said this last bit as fast as she could.

Meanwhile Hermione was in shock. She had never seen this side of Pansy before, usually she was terrorizing students, including Hermione, or openly flirting with almost every good-looking guy who passed by her. Hermione thought that she must really like Malfoy to lower herself so much. Usually Pansy had too much pride and now here she is practically begging for him to take her back. Seeing this side of Pansy made Hermione see her as a normal girl for the first time since she's known her.

"No," was the simple answer he gave before turning away from her.

Pansy's true character flared up, she shed the meekness and let her rage take over her senses. "No? That's it? I deserve a better answer than that! A lot of guys would die to be with me!" She confidently stated as she gestured at her body, which was thin, though not very well curved in the hips, but she was toned and had an ample 36D chest that she was extremely fond of. Hermione couldn't help but glance over Pansy sleek frame, then timidly look down at herself. She's thin, not model thin like Pansy but a healthy more athletic looking thin. She has a nice curve to her hips, but her chest isn't as big as Pansy's but is a moderate size. Hermione saw nothing special about her body, and glanced back a little enviously at Pansy.

Draco looked at her in disgust. "If so many guys want you than go run to one of them. As for me, I don't want anything to do with you."

Pansy was shocked; she looked down at her body then looked back at Draco, not understanding why he wouldn't want her. "Why? Why did you break it off in the first place?" She demanded to know, her pride was wearing down and she was starting to lose her confidence.

Draco was officially angry that she was still there and that she had the nerve to give him attitude. "It's simple really; I broke it off because I'm not into you. I think you're pathetic, and the fact that you're here asking me to_ take you back _just shows how pathetic you really are. Now get out of my sight, and don't ever think about attempting this conversation again." Draco quickly dismissed the girl.

Pansy, lost for words, quickly stomped out of the room looking very hurt. Hermione found herself feeling sorry for the Slytherin girl. She thought Malfoy could have at least put her down easy instead of being so cold hearted.

"Malfoy, I hope you know you're a git." Hermione said evenly as she started to polish a new trophy. "I seriously never thought I would ever feel sorry for Pansy Parkinson, so thanks for that." She shivered in disgust over the unwanted feeling.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "First off I don't ever want to hear that you've been listening to my conversations again, and secondly a slut like her deserves no one's pity, not even yours."

"I know about Pansy's reputation just as well as everyone else does, but what gives you the right to call her a slut when you yourself dated her?"

"And what gives you the right to even ask that question? Who are you to question my motives in _anything_ I do let alone what I do with my ex girlfriends."

"You're pathetic Malfoy, you really are. You just keep proving my point over and over again that you're a heartless, shallow prick, that doesn't care who he hurts, even if it's someone you once cared enough about to date."

"You know what, it's really none of your bloody business, but for the sake of proving you wrong and pointing out the fact that you're a hypocrite for judging me before you know the whole story, just like you said I did, I'll enlighten you a bit." He said angrily with an aggressive smile on his face as he took several steps closer to her. "I have the right to call Pansy a slut because she cheated on me, and not just once, and not with just one guy. I have more of a right than anybody to call her a slut."

Hermione bit her lip, as she realized her mistake. She should have just stayed out of it; she hated the feeling of guilt. She hated being called a hypocrite by Malfoy even more. "Re-um really?" She said with uncertainty and hesitation. "She seemed to really like you. She was trying so hard to get back together with you. It's hard to imagine her cheating on you when she likes you so much as to go against her pride and ask you back."

"She doesn't _really _like me, she never did. A girl like Pansy likes to be free so she can do whatever she wants to whomever she wants. She's only after the Malfoy name, not me. The people in our social circle, especially her father, have great respect for my family." Malfoy said this last part with a very slight hint of sarcasm and disgust, almost as if to say it was ridiculous for his family to have such respect. This puzzled Hermione, but she dismissed it, sure that she was reading his voice wrong. "So she and her family want her to be with me for the social status it will give her family, and that's the only reason." Draco looked at Hermione coldly. "Now tell me Granger, don't you think I have the right to call her slut, she both cheated on me and used me." He had a slight hitch to his voice that made him sound a little hurt to Hermione, though she wasn't sure.

Hermione quietly asked, "You really liked her didn't you?"

Draco was surprised that she could tell, but he quickly masked it. "Who would fall for a bitch like her?" He snapped. "I'm not a fool Granger." He then turned his back to her and walked over to his unfinished trophies.

Hermione could tell by his response that Draco did in fact like Pansy. She should have guessed it herself anyway. She knew his reputation, Draco didn't date girls, he messed around with one for awhile then he easily dropped them whenever he wanted. So it was easy to guess his feelings for her if he was willing to date her when he had never been known to date anyone before.

The truth was that Draco had liked Pansy for awhile now. Since they were kids Draco had admired her strong convictions and confidence. The fact that they grew up in the same environment was even more appealing to him. He thought he would find her to be someone with common thoughts and someone that could empathies with him. So naturally when she grew into her body and became as attractive as she is now he was drawn to her. At first he found her very shallow in both her mind and tastes, but as soon as she realized his dissatisfaction with her she changed and was able to deceive him into thinking she was the person he always thought she was. But in the back of his mind he knew he could never really confide in her or tell her any of his secrets. When he found out about the cheating and the whole reason behind her dating him in the first place he wasn't really surprised, and he was more disappointed by her betrayal than hurt. Especially since he thought he found someone perfect for him but he was proven wrong.

Two hours passed, and neither one of them said another word to the other. When it was time to leave Draco threw one more glare at Hermione before he walked coolly out the door. Hermione just rolled her eyes at his attempt of intimidation and gratefully made her way to Gryffindor tower.

Unfortunately for Hermione she found it hard to sleep. The night's detention had left a bad taste in her mouth; somehow Malfoy had become just a little more human to her. He wasn't completely unfeeling like she always thought he was. He was visibly upset about Pansy, though Hermione couldn't tell how deep those feelings ran. For all she knew they could be shallow, fleeting emotions. None-the-less he had shown some kind of substance that she didn't think he was capable of. This didn't alter her opinion of him in the slightest, but it did inspirer a sort of curiosity. There was no doubt in her mind that Malfoy was a slimy git, but still Malfoy was the type of person you couldn't help but wonder about. He's everything dark and mysterious, and someone like Hermione, who wants to believe that every person has the power to better them self, can't help but wonder about him. So that night Hermione tried to grasp onto the fleeting feelings of emotion she glimpsed from him and tried to picture a Malfoy who wasn't so stone cold. But she couldn't do it; to her Malfoy was nothing but a block of ice, nothing but cold feelings and icy expressions.

Meanwhile, Draco was getting ready for bed when he was interrupted by a tapping at the window. He glanced over and saw it was his mother's owl. When Draco had the letter away from the owl his heart jumped as he took in the wrinkled parchment and messy scrawl. His mother always used the best paper and usually had beautiful writing that flowed across the paper in even lines. He knew something was wrong.

_I need you. Come quickly._

He didn't hesitate. He could guess what was wrong and he couldn't waste anytime, he had to get to her. He quickly threw on his robes and grabbed his broom. He flew until he was out of Hogwarts grounds, then he apparated to his manor.

Once he was inside his house he quietly, but quickly, started searching the rooms for his mom. He had to be careful to scan every room before he stepped into it and dodge behind corners every time he saw a flicker of movement. The house was dark and the only sound was coming from the old grandfather clock they had in the hall. Finally he spotted her; she was on the floor, apparently unconscious, between two bookcases. Draco hesitated, his eyes locked onto his mother, he had to cross the library where there were a lot of dark corners and shadowed chairs. This was a trap, Draco knew what was waiting for him in the shadows, but he couldn't hesitated any longer he had to get to her and take her to the hospital. With a burst of speed he ran across the open space, completely vulnerable, and just as he predicted a spell was shot at him. He quickly deflected it, and before another one could be sent at him he had dove to his mother's side and quickly apparated them both out of the manor and into the hospital lobby.

He had his mother in his arms and carefully ran her over to the reception desk.

"What's happened?" the receptionist asked.

"Poison." Draco said quickly as he watched the little witch quickly send for a healer and wheeled over a bed, where he gently laid her down.

"What kind?" the healer, who over heard them as he made his way towards them, asked.

"I don't know." Draco felt helpless and numb; he thought he would be used to this by now, but looking at his weakened mother he knew that this was something he could never get used to.

His mother was soon wheeled away and Draco was advised to go home. He didn't like leaving his mother there alone, but he knew now that she was in the hands of the healers she would be fine. Every time this had happened it's been a different poison, but the poisons have always been easily recognizable and curable. He had to get back to the manor and confront his assaulter. He wasn't worried about school, he knew his family could take care of it if need be.

With one last glance down the ward his mother was taken to he apparated back to his house, where his attacker was waiting for him in the library.

"That was pathetic. A few more minutes and you would have been too late." A drawling voice said coldly to Draco as he stepped into the fire light.

"What can I say father, I grow tired of your games."


	2. Truth Be Told

Draco and his father had a very strained relationship. His entire life Draco's dad has been using various methods to mold Draco into the perfect warrior for the Dark Lord. In the past he had spent hour's everyday with his father training. It first started when he was five, he was too young to use magic but his father made him memorize spells. Then as he got older his father started using spells against him, spells that would torture both his body and mind, Lucius wanted Draco to have a high tolerance against pain. Having high authority and connections in the Ministry of Magic, Lucius was eventually able to make it possible for Draco to use magic at a young age without any consequences. He even set up obstacle courses with booby-trapped spells and they always ended with Draco having to face off with his dad. When he was twelve he stopped letting his father manipulate him, he refused to take part in any of his fathers 'training.' So Lucius found a way to guarantee Draco's participation, he started poisoning Narcissa knowing Draco would always run to his mother's side. Draco could never tell if his father would actually let his mother die, so he never took the chance.

From the outside Lucius and Narcissa's marriage seemed like a happy, compatible one, and it was at first. However, what people don't know was that before Narcissa married Lucius she was a very active member of a secret group against Voldemort. No one outside of this group knew about it, she had to be very careful because her family was a large supporter of the Dark Lord. The other members were just like her, they too were purebloods whose families worked closely with Voldemort. When she met Lucius she was a mere 20 years old, and their relationship grew fast. She was aware of his family's alliance with Voldemort but she didn't know that he was deeply involved himself. She fell quickly for him, and he was very good at charming her and staying away from anything involving the war, which most couples did in those days to give them a sense of normality. Six months after they met they were married, and less than a year after they were married Draco was born. As soon as she found out she was pregnant she quit her membership in her group against Voldemort for the safety of her unborn child. By the time she learned of Lucius's true nature it was already too late, Draco was already born and he would never let her leave with her son.

Therefore it wasn't surprising that Lucius would poison his own wife to get to Draco, their relationship was cold. Over the years Narcissa had been the one comfort in an otherwise unbearable home, she was the only thing that kept Draco from both submitting and becoming what his father was trying to make him into, the perfect warrior, or from losing his sanity completely. Lucius knew this and took great advantage of it. But despite Narcissa's effort's she couldn't fully keep her husband from brainwashing her son. Draco didn't want to be turned into a mindless killer and he didn't want to yield to his father's wishes because he resented him for his painful childhood; however he still thought purebloods were superior and that muggle borns didn't belong in the magic world.

Draco stared at his father, clenching his fist, every cell in his body screaming with the urge to throw himself at him. But he restrained himself, he knew it would only get worse; his father would punish him and then punish his mother just to torment him further.

Lucius grinned as he took in his son who was shaking with rage. "You make me do these things boy." Draco said nothing and after a pause he continued. "If only you would continue your training with no complaints I wouldn't have to resort to such tricks."

Again Draco didn't make any comments; he was determined not to let his father get to him.

"I have great hopes that it won't be long for the Dark Lord to make his move. You need to be ready to fight." Lucius stared at his son, they were of equal height but he still made Draco feel as if he were being looked down upon. "Or will you fight with the mudbloods and the feeble minded Dumbledore?" Again Draco responded with silence. "Speak up boy!"

"Neither side has anything to do with me." Lucius raised his hand at his son's insolence and back handed him as hard as he could across his face. Draco licked blood from his lip and turned his head back towards his father. "Feel better now?" He asked with disdain.

With a great crash Draco flew against the wall, pinned by his father's wand. "You will learn your place boy."

A couple hours later Draco was standing in front of a mirror in a boy's bathroom at Hogwarts, examining his body. Like always his father was an expert at covering up his tracks, all the marks that had once been on the front of his body were now gone. The only ones his Father left unhealed were the ones on his back, a reminder and a warning. He turned around and examined his back. "_Shit_," he cursed under his breath as he took in the sight. There were several large bruises on his back, one starting from his right shoulder that went down and across the middle of his back, and another that ran down his spine. On top of them were five whiplashes and several burn marks left by spells. He didn't even try to attempt to heal them, he knew his father put a spell on him that would prevent magical healing; he would have to heal naturally. He carefully put his shirt back on, wincing as the fabric grazed his wounds, then left for bed.

That night the pain in his back prevented him from sleeping through the night. Draco was used to corporal punishment; it had three advantages to his farther. One it further continued with his training to make Draco have a high tolerance against pain. Two he believes drastic beatings were a good way to make someone both fear you and learn their lesson. Then three, he was just an evil sadistic bastard who enjoyed having that kind of power over people. But even though he was used to it he still felt the pain. He had tried not to speak against his father so he could avoid this but his father had a way of stripping away his control.

Lying on his stomach, Draco recalled the last moment he had with his father before he left. _"This is your fault boy... My tolerance for you is growing thin. You will do as you're told; you will follow in my footsteps." Lucius sighed as he hunched down and moved his sons face to look up at him. "Why must you tax me so? I have such great hopes for you, can't you see I only want you to be the best." He stood up and looked down at his son. "Go now boy, next time I won't be so lenient." _

Draco snorted to himself. He couldn't believe his father considered that as being lenient, that had been one of the worse beatings he's given him. He sighed and carefully sat up. He cringed a little and carefully massaged his hard stomach muscles. They were still a little tender. Draco grabbed his pillow in frustration and launched it against the wall. He instantly regretted it as the muscles in his back flexed, making the bruise throb and the lashes open. As soon as his back stopped throbbing he grabbed some supplies and walked out of his room towards a bathroom. When he finished wrapping gauze around his chest he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. Draco looked up into the mirror and just stared at himself. Was this it? Was this all life had to offer him? At the moment Draco had never felt so defeated and helpless. _This is my life… _He thought bitterly before he went back to bed.

Hermione woke up early the next morning. After she showered and dressed she walked down into the common room, not expecting anyone else to be awake yet. She was surprised when she saw both Ron and Harry awake and sitting at a table.

Ron looked up and saw Hermione walking towards them "Hey Mione, g'morning." He said sleepily as he stretched back against his chair.

"Good morning, Ron. Good morning, Harry. What are you two doing up so early, its not even 6 o'clock yet? I usually have to drag you both out of bed a half an hour before breakfast." She stated as she took the seat across from them.

"Well, we were both up late last night playing wizard chess and we forgot to do our transfigurations homework." Harry answered with a yawn.

"Yeah, and you know how McGonagall gets when we don't do the homework." Ron stood up and started shaking his finger at Harry "You young men should have more responsibility! This _is not_ just school work, it's your future! How do you ever expect to become an Auror if you don't study and do your work! Honestly, I don't know why someone as smart as Hermione associates herself with people who have such little pride in their work!" Ron said in a mock McGonagall voice. He then turns to an empty chair. "Neville! How many times do I have to tell you? When you transfigure a rope into a _harmless_ garden snake DO NOT SCREAM AND THROW IT ACROSS THE ROOM_!" _Ron then turned on his heels and sauntered off. Harry and Hermione laughed as they recalled that actually happening yesterday.

"So," Harry turned to Hermione when their laughter died down, "how was your _lovely _night with Malfoy?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"I forgot about that." Ron said as he took his seat. "He didn't do anything I'll have to make him regret did he?" He asked while smacking his fist into his open hand, sounding as if he wished Malfoy did do something.

"No, he didn't try anything worth mentioning. But of course just being in the same room with him for that long was horrid. I'm dreading tonight's detention with him." Hermione shuddered at the thought of having to spend another three hours alone with Malfoy.

"If he does anything stupid, just tell us Hermione. We'll take care of him for you." Harry said turning to Ron with a nod and a smirk.

"Kicking his ass would be a pleasure!" Ron said while drawing himself up to full size. "Just give us a reason to get him Mione' _please_!"

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes "Oh sod off, Ron! You know I wouldn't let you two do anything that could get you into trouble," Her laughter intensified as Ron got on his knees, begging her with both his hands and his eyes to let him go at it with Malfoy.

They sat around joking and laughing for the remainder of the morning. Meanwhile, Draco woke very stiff and sore, wincing in pain every time he shifted his back. He slowly got up and started getting ready for class. His goal for the day was to make sure nobody noticed. The last thing he wanted was for people to start asking questions.

The day went by fast with the only exciting thing that happened was when Dean blew up his apple while trying to transfigure it into a ball, and it ended up spraying McGonagall right in the face.

When dinner was over, Hermione and Draco made their way back to the trophy room for another long night. Once they arrived they both silently picked up their polish and rags and started cleaning with out a single syllable uttered to the other.

After some time Hermione found herself watching Draco, bewildered by his stiff movements and at his occasional grimaces. At first Draco just ignored it, but soon he started to get really annoyed at her constant gawking. Not being able to take it anymore he turned to glare at her.

"You must really like what you see, Granger, since you keep staring." He knew why she was watching him, and he was hoping he could piss her off enough that she'd forget it. No such luck though. She ignored his comment.

"Well uh…are you alright? You're moving and acting oddly?" She asked awkwardly.

Draco was confused at her concern. "Why do you care Granger? Since when has my health ever concerned you?" He asked sharply.

Hermione flushed in both rage and embarrassment. It's not like she really cared about his health, it was just in her nature. "There's obviously something wrong with you, I just wanted to make sure you weren't about to pass out. The last thing I want is to have to do you any favors." She said quickly. "Besides it's not a crime to be, well not quite concerned, but…" She couldn't find the right word for her curiosity. "You know what, just forget I asked!" She exclaimed in frustration.

"What the hell is your problem, has your brain finally malfunctioned or are you just PMSing?"

She flushed and threw her dirty rag at Malfoy's snide face. Out of reflex Draco snatched the rag before it could hit him. He instantly gasped through his teeth and dropped onto one knee. Stretching his arm out so far and fast reopened the wounds on his back and he could feel the blood start to trickle down his skin.

Without thinking Hermione ran over to him. When she was by his side she saw lines of blood soaking through his shirt. "Oh God, Malfoy!" She said in hushed surprise. "What happened to you?"

"Don't worry about it." He said through clinched teeth as he attempted to stand up. The movement caused the wounds to open more and he stopped.

"It's starting to bleed more. I need to get you to the nurse."

"No! Nobody can know. Do you understand me! If you tell anybody about this, even Potter and Weasley, I'll kill you! This is _my_ business!" He panicked and out of rage and fear he jumped quickly to his feet to get away from her. "Arghh." He moaned, leaning his side heavily against the wall.

She watched him, racking her brain trying to decide what she should do. "I won't tell anybody, but only if you let me look at your back."

Draco was about to snap at her and tell her to sod off, but when he turned to look at her he forgot what he was about to say. Hermione completely forgot herself and was taken over by her concern. He saw the pleading concern in her eyes. He was totally bewildered he just nodded a curt ok.

Hermione put her hands on his shoulders and gently turned him so his back was facing her. She used her wand to carefully banish his shirt away. She bit her lip when she saw his mangled back and started to slowly and carefully peel off the gauze that was now twisted and that had slid down to his lower back. She tried every curing spell she knew, but to no avail, they wouldn't heal. The most she could do was make sure the healing would go well,, wouldn't get infected, and help with the scarring.

Draco jumped in surprise as he felt her hand rest gently on his chest. "Hold this." She placed his hand over one end of the bandages. She then proceeded to wrap up his wounds. Malfoy stood very still the whole time in shock. He looked down at her as she was carefully bandaging him with a look of suspicion on his face. This was wrong. Draco didn't understand why she was helping him and he was sure that any moment now she would slap him on the back or do something else to try to cause him more pain.

"Done." Hermione stated as she stepped away from him. She used a spell to put his shirt back on him. "How does that feel?"

"Fine." He mumbled.

They stood awkwardly for a couple seconds before Malfoy turned back to his work. Hermione didn't move though. She stood debating what she should do next.

"So uh…Do you want to talk about it?" She asked awkwardly. Hermione knew he was a bad guy, and there were rumors about him being a deatheater, but there was no proof. She believed people should get what they disserved, and he deserved to have everything he ever did to her and her friends happen to him, but she wasn't sure if he deserved this.

"Why the hell would I want to talk to you about it?"

"It was just an offer."

Draco looked darkly over at her, "And who the hell are you? It doesn't matter to you so stop pretending that it does."

Hermione laughed bitterly. "You really are a prat. I may not like you Malfoy, but I wouldn't wish those wounds on anyone, not even you."

"Stop acting like a saint. The only reason why you care is because your oversized brain is dieing with curiosity. You're so pathetic it's sad." Draco snapped at her, angry that she had the nerve to insult him.

"Screw you Malfoy! You're just so twisted and warped; you can't even tell when someone is being genuine. Just because you and your family don't have any feelings doesn't mean the rest of us are as cold hearted as you!" She yelled at him, enraged that he believed she would put herself in someone else's business just because she was curious. "If you had any feelings at all you would at least _try _to be civil to me. After all I promised not to tell anyone about your wounds, and it's not like I owe you any favors."

Now Draco was seriously pissed, it sounded as if she was threatening him. And he hated that she acted like she knew everything about him. "What the bloody hell do you want from me mudblood." He said in a low dangerous voice, shaking with anger and a little fear. She couldn't tell anyone, it would kill him if she did. "You want me to tell you my whole life story? Fine." He took slow deliberate steps towards her; his mind had gone completely black. He had just dealt with his father and now he had to deal with her, it was too much. Hermione took an involuntary step back; she never saw any ones eyes look so dark and empty. "I'm sure it will come as a shock to you to know that it was my father who gave me these wounds; he's been _punishing_ me this way my whole life." Hermione took a sharp in take of breath, Draco gave a cold smirk. "Satisfied now that you know?" He was mere inches from her now, trying very hard not to grab her and throw her against the wall. "So tell me, oh noble hearted mudblood, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to continue to nurse my wounds, hold me while I cry?" He said sarcastically. "Don't ever presume you know a damn thing about me." He stood mere inches from her and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "And if you ever threaten me again I'll make it so you can never speak."

She took several steps away from him, but she was too shocked to really fear him. "I had no idea!" she breathed out, while, to her confusion and surprise, tears started to run down her face.

"No, you didn't," Malfoy said callously. He stopped talking though when he noticed her crying. Now that was confusing, why would she cry for him?

Hermione suddenly hugged Draco, careful not to agitate his wounds. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Draco stood paralyzed unable to say anything, he was in shock. Hermione realized what she was doing and slowly put her arms down and stepped away from him. "I don't understand you, you hate me." His anger was soon forgotten and was now replaced with bewilderment.

"Yes, I don't like you. But I would never wish for anyone to go through that, and you say it's been happening your whole life. Even when you were just a child…I just feel so bad." She started to unconsciously reach out for him again.

At first Draco didn't do anything, he found himself in wonderment. Never had he met anyone who showed so much concern for a person they dislike, someone who they thought badly of and who thought badly of them. But he quickly snapped out of it and slapped her hands away. "Lay off!" He walked back over to his side of the room, and then turned back towards her. "You better not tell anyone about this Granger, I have my reasons for keeping this to myself." Hermione was about to open her mouth but Draco stopped her before she could say anything. "Just know that if this is found out not only will you be putting me in danger, you'll be putting yourself in danger. I wasn't joking when I said I'd kill you."

Hermione just stared at him for a few seconds before she nodded her head and then turned away from him.

She couldn't stand him, after she helped him he had to go and threaten her. She understood that he didn't want anyone to know but he could have been a little more civil about it. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh and glanced back at Malfoy. He was stiffly rubbing a trophy, trying not to move his back too much. Her eyes softened a little and her anger faded. She just felt too sorry for him to stay mad at his threat. She figured he must be really hurt and perhaps scared as well because she, his enemy, knows his secret. She turned away from him and forced herself not to look back and check on him for the rest of the night.

"Meddling little mudblood."Draco mumbled to himself as he threw an angry glare at the back of Hermione's head. The movement of her hands running across a half polished trophy caught his eye. He unintentionally had a flashback of her hands gently wrapping his wounds and her arms wrapping around his middle as she hugged him. Even though she hates him, she still showed compassion towards him, he couldn't get over that. He shook his head and let out an angry growl. She better hope she doesn't slip up and tell someone.

The night dragged on, and neither of them said another word or even looked at the other. When it was time to go, Hermione took one last glance at Draco, who looked sharply back at her, before she quickly walked out of the room.

Draco's eyes followed Hermione as she quickly left the trophy room. When she was out of sight he carefully sat down and ran both hands through his hair in frustration and let his mind go through what happened tonight. He couldn't understand what happened. How could he tell her, he had always been so careful? Now he had to worry about her either telling someone or blackmailing him. He kicked a bottle of wax across the room in resentment. He had to make sure she didn't tell anyone. If she did he would have to do what ever it took to cover it up. He was so angry at himself for letting out the one secret he had spent his whole life covering up. He let his anger cloud his mind and his judgment which caused him to blurt it out without thinking it through. Anger soon faded into confusion as his mind shifted to Hermione's reaction. She hugged him and even cried. Why would she react like that, he was her enemy and out of everyone in the school she hated him the most. He remembered the shock in her eyes when she realized she was hugging him. She did it out of pure instinct and that was even stranger to him. He never met anyone like that before, someone who could drop every past feeling and do something simply out of concern. Yet again she could just be acting kind so he doesn't expect her of lying about keeping his secret. Draco shook his head to clear his mind, he had to stop thinking about this before he drove himself crazy, and after a short pause he stood up and quickly made his way to the Slytherin common room. There he spotted his best friend Blaise Zabini and automatically made his way towards him.

Blaise looked up from the book he was reading and saw Draco approaching him. "Hey" he smilled up at him. "How was detention?" Blaise asked with the knowing smirk on his face.

"Don't ask." Draco grumbled as he carefully sat down, trying not to touch his sore back against the chair. Wincing once as he sat back and asked with no real interest what Blaise was reading.

Blaise drew a sharp hissing breath through his teeth as he watched his friend's familiar movements. "You've been home. When?"

Draco put his head down and started rubbing his temples as he told him everything that occurred the night before. Blaise sat quietly, listening closely to his friend. Once he was completely done with his tale, Zabini growled. "Damn! Want me to kill him? Because I will _so _bloody kill him for you!"

Draco laughed with gratitude at his friends offer. "Only if you kill him nice and slow."

"Oh there's no problem there, I'm _definitely _on it!" Blaise said jokingly. "But in all seriousness Draco, if you ever need help or a place to go, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Draco said, but knowing there wasn't really anything his friend could do to help him.

After she left the trophy room, Hermione went straight into the shower. She spent almost an hour in there, hoping that the steady stream of water would rinse out all the thoughts of Malfoy and his problems. Dressing herself in pj pants and a tank top, she walked down into the common room where Ginny sat absentmindedly staring at the fire.

"Hey Ginny, are you ok? You seem like you have a lot on your mind."

Ginny looked up from the fireplace. "Oh it's nothing really. Just thinking, I guess."

"Yeah right, spill it. I know you better than that; you _are _my best girl friend after all."

"Well alright. Tonight as I was hanging out with Ron and Harry it struck me how things have changed."

"What has changed?

"The way I feel about Harry," she said meekly looking at Hermione through her long eyelashes.

Hermione wasn't surprised, she suspected as much for a few months now. "That's not a bad thing Ginny. Don't get me wrong Harry would be a great guy to be with, but there are other great guys out there."

"Yeah, I know. It's just strange how much things have changed."

"Are you upset about it?"

"No, I'm not upset I'm just bored. Now that I don't have Harry to fawn over, I don't know what to do with my time." She said sarcastically with a dramatic sigh.

Hermione couldn't help herself, she laughed. "Really Ginny, you need to find a hobby that doesn't consist of drooling over a boy." Hermione stated between laughter.

The two girls stayed up a little while longer joking around before they headed up to bed.


	3. Sticks and Stones

Draco woke with a sharp intake of breath when he moved his back the wrong way. He groaned as he moved his curtains aside and saw that it was still dark out. _"Shit," _He slurred out as he glanced at the clock, it was only 5:45 in the morning and he didn't have to be down for breakfast until 8. After trying desperately to go back to sleep he gave up and dragged his feet to the shower in hopes that it might give him more energy. When he was done he dressed carefully, wincing as he pulled his shirt over his head, then he went down to the common room. Noticing that no one else was up, he glanced at the clock again, 6:20…He decided he would spend some time studying for a potions test he had coming up to pass time_. _He grabbed his things and made his way to the library.

Hermione woke up at the usual early hour and headed to the shower. When she walked out into the common room she noticed that there was one other person up. Walking over, she saw it was Harry with his head down as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Harry. Are you alright?"

Harry looked up and smiled when he saw it was Hermione. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't sleep too well last night. No worries."

She sat down next to him, "Something on your mind?"

"No nothing like that. I just couldn't seem to get comfortable."

"Oh, I hate nights like that."

"You're telling me . . . So how did detention go last night?"

Hermione knew she couldn't tell Harry what really happened; she promised Malfoy she wouldn't say anything to anyone. "It was quiet most of the time, but you know Malfoy, he's not happy unless he's insulting someone. He threw a few comments at me, but nothing to cry home about." _See I'm not lying, just not telling everything…_She thought to herself while she shifted her weight uncomfortably, she hated to keep things from Harry.

"If he tries anything funny you better tell me. I mean it Hermione; I get so worried knowing that you're all alone with him."

Hermione smiled at him, "I'm glad you care so much. But I don't think there's anything to worry about. I mean come on, not even Malfoy is that daft to try and inflict permanent damage on me while I have Ron and you looking out for me." She gave him a playful nudge with her shoulder. At that moment Hermione felt how lucky she was to have a friend like Harry.

"Well, of course I care a lot about you. Ron and you are the closest people I have to family; and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to the only family I have left." Harry said this with a note of sadness in his voice. "But, I guess your right; I don't think Malfoy will try anything right underneath the teachers' noses. I'm still worried, though. The things that come out of that _ferret's _mouth can be rather harsh. Just don't let him get to you. Ok?"

Hermione heard the hurt in his voice and wished, not for the first time, that there was more she could do for him.

"Ok, Harry I wont let him get to me."

"Good!" He clasped her knee briefly before he stood up. "I'm going to go take a shower, see you at breakfast?" He asked while walking to the stairs.

"Yes, of course." She smiled after him.

"Alright then." With that Harry disappeared up the stairs.

Hermione sat back and let out a long sigh. As she sat there staring at the ceiling her mind couldn't help but wander to Malfoy. It seemed so unbelievable that his childhood was so rough; he always seemed really close to his family whenever she saw them together. Hermione let her thoughts run. _Could they be that good at pretending…I guess if Malfoy's dad is that psychotic they would have no choice but to make it convincing or else they would probably be punished_…_How do I even know if he was telling the truth about everything. I wouldn't put it past him to lie to me, he might be laughing about it with his Slytherin friends…_But for some reason Hermione didn't really think he was lying. There was just too much feeling in his voice and eyes, and the way his body shook with emotion as he told her…No Hermione didn't think he was lying.

"God I can't think about this anymore." Hermione let out in frustration as she stood up from her seat. She had to get her mind off things; she figured it was unhealthy for a person to spend too much time thinking about Malfoy. The library, that's where she'll go, studying has always been her escape from things.

She made her way to the library and when she got there she went straight for the Transfiguration section without taking her time to glance around. She found a book she's been meaning to read and was flipping through it; as she was turning a corner a noise made her look up from the pages. Malfoy was frozen looking at her in surprise with his arm over his head reaching for a book. He blinked once and brought his arm back down.

"I guess it's not surprising that you're here so early." Draco said as he tucked his book under his arm.

Hermione awkwardly shifted her weight, "No, but it is surprising that you are." Draco didn't respond and the two of them just stood there uncomfortably. "Well ok then, I'm going to go read this." She said as she slightly lifted the book in her hand. She started walking away when Draco stopped her with a quick, but non-aggressive, hand on her shoulder.

"You didn't say anything to your friends did you?"

"I told you I wouldn't"

"That doesn't mean much to me. After all it's not like you have a reason to keep any promises to me."

"You gave me a reason last night when you threatened my life." Draco only smirked and didn't say anything. Hermione rolled her eyes and started walking away again when once again Draco stopped her. "What!" she said irritably.

Draco calmly looked down at her with no expression on his face. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what exactly?" She sighed out.

"Why did you seem so…concerned about me last night?'

Hermione shrugged, "I already told you last night that I wouldn't wish that on anyone." She turned around and quickly walked away from him.

Draco didn't trust her words, there was just something off to him about the whole thing. He was suspicious that she had some kind of motive. Maybe she was trying to gain his trust and then betray him; after all it's what he would do. "Nice try mudblood but I'm not so easily deceived." He said quietly to the empty space that Hermione had occupied.

Hermione and Draco didn't see each other again until it was time for their detention together. When they both entered neither of them said or glanced at the other, they just went to opposite sides of the room and started polishing.

After working for an hour and a half straight, Hermione needed a break. She set down her things and took a seat on the floor. When she looked across the room she saw Draco sending her a glare. Hermione silently shook her head then she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. "It's not a crime to take a break Malfoy. You should try it sometime; I know your back is probably killing you."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her, "I don't ever want to hear you mention that again, not even to me." Hermione's only response was a half hearted OK sign she made with her hand. "What's wrong with you Granger; have a late night rendezvous with some Gryffindor with nothing appealing about him but his IQ?" He teased with a smirk. Again Hermione didn't say anything. "Oh yeah that's right I forgot I was talking to the girl with no personality to speak of."

Hermione opened her eyes and looked over at Malfoy. "You really have no right to make those claims ferret. The only time you speak to me is when you have something nasty to say, so how would you know anything about me?"

"I've seen you enough to know what you're like. The only time you ever seem to have any fun is when you're either studying or hanging out with Potter and Weasley. And neither one of those activities speak very highly of your sanity."

"I enjoy learning new things and I have fun with my two best friends, there's nothing abnormal about that."

"You're right there isn't. What's abnormal is that you don't ever venture or look past your own little bubble. You want to learn everything you can about everything yet you never look past the few little things you surround yourself by. It's like you're only half a person, you're only going through the motions. Not to mention you completely fail as a woman, you do everything you can to be as dull and uninteresting as possible." Draco picked up his rag and started cleaning the trophy in front of him again. "If you're not careful Granger you're going to die alone with the realization that you have a library full of knowledge but no real life experiences." He said the last part with a satisfied smirk.

Hermione couldn't say anything. She could only look wide eyed at Malfoy's back. She couldn't help but acknowledge the truth in Malfoy's words. She did keep herself pretty closed off from the world. The only reason why she had Harry, Ron, and Ginny as friends in the first place was because of the troll in first year. Before that even Ron and Harry disliked her. She keeps to herself a lot and never tries to leave her comfort zone. She really wasn't living life like everyone else, even Harry, Ron, and Ginny had friends and a separate life from what they had with her. "Die alone…"She said in a small voice that only she could hear.She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her back to Malfoy as she wiped at her cheeks.

It was too quiet. Draco expected Hermione to have barked some annoying remark at him by now. He glanced over his shoulder at her, half expecting her to have her wand pointed at him. However, the only thing he saw was Hermione's hunched shoulders and stiff back. "Granger." he called. She didn't respond. He took a few steps towards her but stopped when she turned around. Her lips were slightly red from biting on them and her eyes shined too brightly. He really hadn't expected her to cry. He expected her to get mad and snap back at him. But she didn't even look mad, only hurt.

"You were finally able to make me cry. You must be happy." She said softly as she looked up at him.

Draco didn't know what to say. He really didn't get what he said to make her this upset. He always said mean things to her and she never got like this. "Why.." was the only thing he could think to say.

"You're right Malfoy; for once you've judged me right." Hermione turned around and started polishing again. For the next hour and a half neither one of them did anything besides polish.

After detention was over Draco went to the Slytherin common room and took a seat across from Blaise. Blaise looked up from his book and examined his silent friend. He knew Draco long enough to know he was deep in thought. "What's on your mind?" He asked and tapped Draco on the side of his leg with his book. Draco just shrugged in response. "You're back bugging you?"

"Yeah it's bugging me, but it's nothing I can't live through." Draco responded as he adjusted himself a little in his chair.

"Then what is it? And don't say nothing, I know you well enough to know you have something on your mind. You have that dark brooding look on your face."

"I think I really fucked up."

"Fucked up how?" Draco then proceeded to tell Blaise all about the night before and how he let his secret slip out to Granger. "I don't get it. You've been keeping this to yourself since we were kids, why blurt it out now?"

Draco let out a sigh, "It's not like I meant to. I was pissed at my dad, I was pissed at Granger, I was worried about my mom…I just had too much going on in my head that I just didn't think."

"Do you think she's going to say anything to anyone about it?"

"She says she won't." He shrugged.

"Did you tell her what would happen if your dad found out that people were talking?"

"I mentioned a little something about it."

"Well you better damn well make sure she understands. The last thing you want is for her to gab to someone."

"I'll tell her."

The tension in Blaise's shoulders eased up a bit, "So what did she do when you told her?" Draco quickly looked at his friend and looked away again. "What? What the hell did she say?"

"It's not so much what she said but what she did…"

"And that would be?"

"She uh cried and then she hugged me."

There was silence for a few seconds. "What the hell."

"Tell me about it, I don't get it either."

"I guess that goody two-shoes act of hers is for real." Blaise sat back in his chair. "So is this what's on your mind tonight?"

"In part."

"What else then?"

"She cried tonight."

"Over your past again? Man that girl is such a marshmallow." Blaise laughed a little.

"No not because of that. We kind of got into it a little tonight and she cried."

"That's not like her."

"Yeah I know."

"What did you say?" Draco told Blaise the jest of what he said. "Looks like you really hit home with that one. Who knew Granger was so insecure. So why does it have you thinking so hard?"

"I wasn't expecting her to react like that; she would usually make some smart ass remark to me and call it a day."

"You don't feel bad about it do you?"

"No not exactly. It's just after I told her about my family and she acted the way she did…"

"You feel grateful for her concern?" Draco narrowed his eyes at him. "Ok ok not grateful… But you obviously feel something about it if you now feel uncomfortable for making her cry."

Draco ran both his hands through his hair in frustration. "I can't be feeling anything towards a mudblood but hate."

Blaise smirked at his friend for a second before changing the subject. "So who knew Granger was so oblivious to her admirers."

Draco wrinkled his noise in disgust. "What admires?"

"Oh come on, you can't tell me you haven't noticed that Granger grew up to be pretty damn fine. She hides it well but guys have been noticing since the Yule Ball in fourth year." Blaise laughed as his friend's expression grew more disgusted.

"You're insane."

Blaise laughed as he said, "It's true." Draco only shook his head in denial. Blaise stopped laughing and looked at his friend for a minute in silence. "What are you going to do about Granger?"

"What do you mean?"

"Whether you feel bad about it or not, it's not the greatest thing that you made Granger cry. Now that she knows about you're dad you don't want to get on her bad side more than you already are."

"There's nothing I can do about that, what's done is done."

"You can always tell her you take it back."

"And how the hell am I supposed to have that conversation?"

"I don't know just figure something out. I'm sure you don't want to be thinking about this 24/7." Draco let out an agitated sigh and leaned his head back. Blaise smiled. "Just think, only a couple of hours ago you were thinking up ways to torment Granger and now you are thinking up ways to apologize."

Draco didn't lift his head up, "I'm so glad my life amuses you."


	4. Apology

When Hermione woke up she didn't move, she only stared out of her dark window for a few minutes. She couldn't help herself, she was depressed. For awhile now she has been questioning herself. She was tired of seeing how easy it was for everyone else to have a good time and laugh so easily. For her she only had her three close friends and that was all. Even Harry, Ron, and Ginny had their own separate group of friends outside of Hermione and so many times she's envied them and their easy manners. However, no matter how many times Hermione would tell herself that today was the day she went to the party, or today was the day she tried to make a new friend she always got sidetracked or just cold-feet. Finally sitting up in bed she decided she needed to get out, she just couldn't listen to Malfoy's voice echoing in her head anymore.

Hermione made her way to the lake and found a large flat rock to sit on. She looked over the lakes surface and could see a golden glow over the horizon as the sun was rising. Cold wind hit Hermione's face and she realized she was crying. She couldn't understand what was wrong with her. Ever since Malfoy said those things to her she's felt how lonely her life really is, but she couldn't understand why she felt so lonely. She had Harry, Ron, and Ginny and she loved them and always had fun with them, so why does she feel this way now? She just didn't get it. Not being able to understand the way she was feeling only made Hermione feel worse. She pulled her knees to her chest and just hugged herself as the sun rose over the lake.

In the Slytherin common room Draco leaned against the big bay window, ignoring the quite morning noises of his house mates, as he sipped his coffee and stared across the lake at the morning sun reflecting off the surface. Not for the fist time he was thankful that the professors finally gave in and moved the Slytherin common rooms out of the cold dungeons, something the Slytherin alumni were greatly against and gave them more reason to hate Dumbledore for ruining a Slytherin tradition. As his eyes swept across the lake something caught his eye. There was someone sitting out there. Draco stared until he finally recognized who it was, _Granger._ Behind Draco Pansy stood watching him. She followed his line of vision and realized who he was looking at with such a quizzical look on his face.

"See something interesting?" She asked coolly from behind his shoulder.

Draco turned toward Pansy as he stood up a little straighter. "Not really no," was the only answer he gave before he took another sip of his coffee and walked away casually with one hand in his pocket.

Pansy didn't say anything, she only watched Draco leave the common room and then she walked to the window and sneered down at Hermione. She was only mildly surprised when she spotted Draco making his way across the lawn towards Granger. She knew there was something off about the way he was watching her, she just didn't know what his intention were. She only knew that they weren't as bad as she wished they were.

Hermione heard someone coming, so she quickly picked up her wand and pointed it to her face. After saying a short incantation, all traces of her tears were gone. She put her wand back in her pocket and tuned to face her intruder.

"You," She said in quiet surprise.

"Yeah, me." He stopped a couple feet away from her and looked down his nose at her. "What are you doing out here it's freezing?"

"I was just . . . " she shook her head, "Never mind it has nothing to do with you.

Draco shrugged his shoulders with his hands in his pockets and turned to look at the lake. "It doesn't matter."

Feeling awkward sitting on the ground while Malfoy's tall form loomed over her, she stood up and wrapped her arms around herself as a cold wind hit her body. "Why are you out here?"

Still facing towards the lake Draco moved his eyes toward her and watched her for a split second, debating on how he should word his next sentence, before turning his eyes back to the lake. "I'm not sure what exactly happened last night. I expected you to react like you always have, saying some snide comment back to me but instead you…well it was, surprising I guess is the word for it."

"If you've come here to gloat about making me cry let me just save you the trouble." She looked him in the eyes, "You win."

"What?" Draco was a little confused.

"I said you win ok? I'm so sick of this constant fighting with you; I'm tired of it all. I can't stand that out of all the people in the world you are the one to make me question myself. So if you've come here to tell me, once again, how lacking I am as a person and how I'll probably die alone, don't. Ok? Just don't."

"But-"

"I mean it Malfoy. I can't stand it. If you…if you say something else…if you see through me like that again I couldn't take it. Everything you said last night was true. So I'm admitting defeat. You win, so let it be over." She turned her back towards him and squeezed her tears back.

Draco watched her shoulders as she took deep breaths to calm herself. "Can I speak now?" She made no reply. "Though I should be happy that you admit defeat to me it's not at all what I came here for."

"I'm sure-"

"No!" He shot out at her back. "I just need you to be quiet for two minutes alright? This isn't easy for me. I don't even know if I can find the right words. Frankly because I don't even know myself what's wrong, only that something is." Hermione stood quietly, confused. She didn't know what he was talking about. When Draco saw that she wasn't going to speak he went on as he started to pace across the shore. "Last night you should have gotten mad. You should have snapped back at me and tried to say something equally hurtful. You shouldn't have cried like you did."

"I don't understand." She spoke still facing away from him, her head slightly turned towards the side to listen.

"That makes two of us then." Draco couldn't help but let a little frustration resonate in his voice. "In all honesty I couldn't careless about you. But I think…I think that since you kept my secret and was decent enough to show concern over me, despite our dislike for each other, I should have at least tried to be a little more…" He let out a frustrated sigh and gave up trying to find the right words. "I don't know I just shouldn't have made you cry. I said what I said because I was mad; I didn't think you would take it any other way than you usually do."

"You mean lash out with some clever remark against you?" Hermione finally turned towards him, smiling a little.

"Yeah something like that." Draco half smiled back. They both kept the smiles on their faces for half a second before they remembered themselves. Draco cleared his throat a little, "So just forget what I said ok? Like you always say, how am I supposed to know what you're really like?"

Hermione slightly grimaced and cast her eyes to the ground before turning her back towards Draco again. In a quiet, stiff voice she said, "But this time you were right. You saw right through me…It makes me wonder how much more you can see."

"I see nothing ok? Just forget all about it." Draco didn't like this, he was trying to ease his conscience but it wasn't working.

"Why aren't you happy that you were right about me? I kind of understand that you feel some kind of obligation to be a little civil towards me because of the other night. But this doesn't feel right; you shouldn't be trying so hard to take it back."

"Look, don't get me wrong alright. I still don't like you. I'm just settling the debt I owe you." With that he turned towards the castle and walked away. Hermione followed suite shortly afterward.

When Hermione walked into the Great Hall for breakfast that morning she had her eyes to the ground to make sure she wouldn't make eye contact with Malfoy. But because of this, she didn't see the person standing in front of her. So when she ran right into a hard broad back she ended up falling on her rear-end. There was an uproar of laughter from everyone around her. Hermione's face turned red as she quickly made to stand up, her cheeks were pink with embarrassment.

"Hey, are you alright?" Asked an unknown male voice with a slight Italian accent as he grabbed Hermione by the forearms and helped her up.

"Yes I'm fine," Hermione said while dusting off her backside. When Hermione finally looked to see who her roadblock was her breath caught in her throat. She had never seen him before. In fact she had never seen anyone like him before, not at Hogwarts anyway. He was tall and had a nicely muscled body evident even through his clothes, much like Malfoy's only his was more elegant, regal even, where Malfoy's was more hard and lethal looking. He had dark brown almost black hair, an olive complexion, and the most amazingly soft hazel eyes. He looked the complete opposite of Draco. Though they were both very good looking this guy was warm, kind looking, where Malfoy was hard, rough looking. Hermione shook herself, she was weirded out that she was comparing this guy to Malfoy. When her head cleared she had noted that he must be new since someone like him doesn't go unnoticed by any heterosexual female.She realized she was staring and quickly cast her eyes away from him. "Sorry about that . . . I wasn't looking."

He smiled, "It happens. And I wasn't hurt so no need to apologize."

"Right, well thank you." She then started to walk towards the Gryffindor table, but was stopped by a hand around her arm. She looked up and saw it was the stranger again. "Yes?" She asked nervously.

"Sorry." He pulled his hand away, "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Zack. I just transferred here from Italy," he said with a gorgeous smile on his face.

"Nice to meet you Zack, I'm Hermione." She answered meekly.

"Gryffindor." He pointed to the colors on her robes. "Me too." He slightly indicated to his own robes. "How about you-" But before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by the group of girls he was talking to before Hermione ran into him.

The obvious leader of the pack of girls, a long legged Ravenclaw with an amazingly seductive smile, put her hand on Zack's arm. An apparent sign to let Hermione know that she saw him first, said "Anyway Zack, you were telling us about your trip over here."

"Right," he smiled at the girl before turning back to Hermione "I'll see you around Hermione." He smiled at her again.

"Sure," she briefly smiled back before she made her way quickly over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat across from Ron and Harry.

"Where have you been Hermione? Breakfast will be over in 10 minutes." Ron asked.

"I was outside. I needed a little fresh air." She unconsciously started to glance at the Slytherin table before she stopped herself.

"Well you missed Dumbledore's announcements."

"Yeah," Harry broke in. "There's a new transfer student. He came here from Italy. I guess his mom and dad got a job at the Ministry and moved here. He's in our house and he's in our year. His name is -"

"Zack, I know. He just told me."

All day long the only thing anyone was talking about was the new student. The girls were squealing and giggling about how "handsome and debonair" he was, and the guys were talking about all the girls squealing and giggling about him.

After classes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to their common room, got dressed into regular clothes, and then went to find empty seats.

"Let's see, we have three and a half hours until dinner. What do you guys want to do, and don't say homework Hermione." Ron warned playfully as they all took seats by the big window facing the lake. Hermione quickly disguised the hurt in her eyes with a simple smile. It was just another reminder of what Malfoy had told her last night.

"It's nice out today, let's go outside." Harry said while looking out of the window.

Ron followed his gaze, outside by the lake was Jenna Hill a 6th year Ravenclaw sitting with her friends. "Yeah mate I can see why you want to go out there. . . Jenna! When are you going to man up and ask her out already? And don't say it's because you're scared that she'll say no. She eye fu-" He glanced at Hermione, who rolled her eyes, and changed what he was going to say, "she stares at you all the time."

"Don't try and give me dating advice. I'll ask Jenna out when you ask out Amber Cruz." Ron slightly blushed. "Yeah don't think I haven't noticed you talking to her all the time. You're more obvious than I am. Amber's sitting down there with Jenna now so I bet you want to go down there just as much as I do. So I'll ask Jenna out when you ask Amber"

"You're right." Ron exclaimed as he stood up. "Let's go down there and woo the ladies. Come on, Hermione," Ron said as he yanked Harry out of his chair.

"No, you and Harry go ahead. Ever since I've been in detention, I've been deprived of my reading time. So I'll just see you two later." She said as she pulled out a novel from her bag.

"We can stay here and keep you company if you'd like," Harry said with slight hesitation in his voice.

"No, I'm fine you guys really. Go on and have a good time."

"Alright. Bye 'Mione," Ron said as he threw his jacket on.

"Bye," Harry waved.

"Bye, boys." Hermione warmly smiled up at them.

Once Harry and Ron were out of the common room, Hermione settled down in her chair and started to read. She read for an hour straight before she was interrupted by someone who just sat across from her.

"Hello, Hermione."

Hermione looked up from her book and saw Zack looking at her with a smile.

"Hey." _Boy this guy smiles a lot. _Hermione thought he must be aware of his charms.

"Sorry for interrupting you." He gestured to her book, "Just thought I'd say hello since I left in the middle of our conversation earlier. Do you mind?"

"No, but what happened to your friends, those girls? You seemed to be having a nice conversation with them."

"Conversation?" He half laughed. "Please, that was not a conversation." He then started playing with his hair and talking in a slightly higher pitched voice. "Oh, Zack, what do you think of my highlights? My hairdresser said they bring out the color of my eyes . . . Zack, you wouldn't _believe _how many guys asked me to the Christmas dance, there were _so_ many! Zack, what do you think is a better way to wear my skirt? This high, or maybe I should put it higher." He then lifted up an imaginary skirt. Hermione laughed, with Zach quickly joined. She was not expecting him to be the kind of guy that goofs around, he looked so serious and mature that it took her by surprise and made it all the more funny. "I've had better conversations with my mute grandpa. I'm definitely glad to be away from them" He sat back and gave her a friendly grin.

"Most guys would be skipping with joy to have so many girls throwing themselves at them," she said as she wiped at her eyes.

Zack then looked her in the eyes, "It's a good thing I'm not like most guys then."

Hermione smiled before looking down. There was a long pause before Hermione broke it. "So what's you're verdict of our school so far?"

Zack leaned back and looked around the common room. "I like it. I miss my mates back home but it seems to be a really friendly place. All except for the Slytherin boys anyway. They don't seem to like me much." He said with an uncaring smile.

"Don't take it to heart. They're like that to anyone and everyone who's not in their house. The girls are usually like that too but it seems that they're willing to over look what house you're in."

They talked casually for a little while longer until Zack was pulled away by their housemates. Later that night at dinner Hermione saw Ron and Amber walking in holding hands and right after them Jenna and Harry came in holding hands as well. Hermione smiled a big smile at them. When they came and sat by Hermione, in turn, they both told her about asking Jenna and Amber out. When the boys finished telling her their triumphant stories they started comparing their tactics with each other. Hermione allowed her thoughts to drift then. Harry and Ron had girlfriends now, she new that meant she would be even more isolated from them. She heaved a sigh and decided to just be happy for them.

Dinner went by too fast for Hermione, and she was soon on her way to detention with Draco. She and Draco had been dreading this all day, especially after Draco's awkward sort-of apology.


	5. Looking Up

After checking in with McGonagall, Hermione made her way to the trophy room. When she entered she saw that Draco was already there. He had his back to her polishing a rather large trophy. Hermione kept glancing at him as she grabbed her things from a box that was left on the floor by Filch and then walked over to the farthest corner of the room.

Hermione already felt the awkwardness between them and she hadn't even been there two minutes. She could already tell that this was going to be the longest three hours of her life. While she was debating to herself about breaking the silence or not there was a loud crash that broke her out of her mind. "_SHIT!" _Malfoy growled out.

"Malfoy?" No answer. "Are you alright?" Still no answer. All she heard was the faint groans coming from the other side of the room. Hermione weaved her way over to where Draco was. When she got there she saw him flat on his back. He had tripped on his spare rag and landed on his still very bruised and cut up back. "Malfoy!" Hermione ran to him and bent down by his side, seeing that he didn't, or really couldn't, move she lifted up his head and put it in her lap to try and make him more comfortable.

"_What are you doing Granger?" _Draco half moaned half snarled out.

"Just shut up will you? I'm trying to help you." She shifted her weight a little so she could grab her wand. "Tell me where it hurts the most; I'll see if I can do something about it."

"You don't need to, I can-"

"Just tell me Malfoy!" She snapped in frustration.

"Everywhere, it hurts everywhere . . ."

"I want you to turn on your stomach, here I'll help you." She gentle started to move his head off of her lap.

"I just need to rest a bit, I'm fine. Lay off alright?"

_"_No." Hermione answered flatly "Now turn over or I'll flip you over, and trust me I won't be gentle." Draco's only protest was a slight growl at her before he slowly started turning over on his stomach while Hermione helped as much as she could. Now that she had better access to his back she carefully lifter up his shirt. Hermione couldn't help but gasp at what she saw. "It's gotten worse, how is that possible? Did your dad…did he beat you again?"

Draco let out a little snort, "No, that would be the handy work of my father. The same spell he uses to keep the wounds from being healed magically also makes it so it gets worse before it gets better. He must have really been pissed this time, he hasn't used that spell in awhile." He said that last part mostly to himself.

Hermione sat there thinking for a second. "I think I know that spell."

"How would you know a spell like that?" Draco asked doubtfully.

"I read a lot." Was the only answer she gave before she aimed her wand at his back and started saying a pretty complicated spell. Slowly Draco's back started to heal, first the bruises then the cuts. By the end of it the only thing that was left was three thin scars that went across his left shoulder blade, but those were old wounds. Hermione looked at his back with satisfaction, "Once I knew the spell he used it was easy enough to heal."

Draco carefully rolled his shoulders and moved the muscles in his back, testing to see if it was really healed. "Doesn't hurt anymore," He slurred out, "but why do I feel so tired?"

"The spell I used uses your own energy to heal your wounds. There's another way but it's even more complicated and I haven't studied it much."

"How long will I be like this?" He asked as she helped roll him over on his back again.

"If I have to make a guess…forty-five minutes to an hour maybe. For now just lay here and rest." She answered as she got up and started walking to her side of the room again.

"Granger?"

Hermione turned back around to face him. "Yes?"

"Thanks." Draco said a bit uncomfortably.

"You're welcome." Hermione cautiously smiled at him before turning back to walk to her end of the room.

"Wait." Draco called surprised at himself for stopping her again. Hermione stopped and looked at him, waiting for him to say something else. Draco sighed "Stay ok? It feels weird just lying here."

"You want _me_ to stay with you? Wow you really must be too tired to think straight." Hermione said as she walked over and slid down the wall next to him.

Draco was grumbling to himself. He couldn't believe he actually asked her to stay with him. He really didn't have a reason for stopping her the second time. He just asked her to wait with out thinking about it; and when she was waiting for him to say something he kind of panicked and said the first thing that came to mind without really thinking about what he was saying and to whom.

They didn't say anything to each other for a few minutes until Hermione couldn't take the awkward silence any longer and asked how his studies were doing.

"You're seriously asking about my studies right now?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. Draco sighed and slightly shook his head. "My studies are fine, I've always done well in school," he smirked. Hermione sat silently for a few seconds watching Malfoy, urging him with her eyes, and then Draco blurted out, "I'm not asking you about your studies. For one thing I don't care, and for another we both know that all you do is study so of course you're doing well."

"I wasn't expecting you to ask me about my studies. I tried to start a conversation and I was hoping you would try to continue it in some way so we're not just sitting here awkwardly."

Draco put both of his hands under his head to cushion it against the hard, cold floor. He stared up at the ceiling for so long that Hermione gave up any hope of escaping the awkward silence. Draco scrunched up his eyes and clutched his teeth for half a second, hardening himself against what he was about to say. He hated himself for continuing any kind of conversation with Hermione Granger; he could hardly even insult her for any period of time without getting sick of talking to her. "Why'd you help me again? I don't understand you at all. One minute you hate me and then the next you're helping me. What's you're game Granger?" He had no malice in his voice, only quiet curiosity.

Hermione's back stiffened a little against the wall she was sitting against. "Why does it have to be a game? I had no other intentions than helping you. I couldn't just leave you on the floor in pain could I?"

"Yes you could've. It's what I would've done."

"Well I guess that's the difference between you and me. I have a conscience."

"Not the only difference I hope." Malfoy mumbled to himself, Hermione ignored his comment. "Conscience or no conscience I'm still you're enemy. You can't tell me that out of all the students in this school that I'm not the one you hate the most."

"You're only my enemy because that's the way you wanted it. Ever since I met you you're only goal has been to either humiliate me or hurt me. If you weren't such as ass we wouldn't have this problem."

"I'm only an 'ass,' as you put it, to those that deserve it."

"And how do you determine who deserves it or not? You don't even-" Hermione paused and took a deep breath. "You know what; I'm not even going to get into this with you again."

"That's good; I didn't want to hear it."

And again they sat in silence before Hermione asked the question that's been nagging at her since that second night in detention when she was made savvy of his secret. "Why do you stay with him, your father? Why not tell Dumbledore?"

"I told you never to mention that again, not even to me." Draco snarled at her.

Hermione ignored him and went on "If it was me I would have told someone a long time ago."

Draco sighed in defeat. He knew when Hermione's curiosity was peaked she would keep digging until she got her answers. It was one of the many things he hated about her. "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

"Why wouldn't you want to?"

"Look this is more complicated than you can understand. I couldn't just simply leave, not even with someone's help. And I don't want to leave my mother alone in that damned house with my father. If I left and took my mother with me he would hunt us down and punish us for defying him." Draco's emotions were running high and Hermione could feel them.

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have asked. And you and your mother shouldn't have to live with a monster like that." Hermione said without being able to hide the sadness in her voice.

Draco was once again intrigued by her concern. He looked away from the ceiling and glanced over at her. "Thanks…" He then moved his eyes back up. "I take it you're family's all rainbows and flowers?"

"Yeah pretty much." Hermione smiled at him.

"Lucky you."

The tension between them started to ease up and soon they started to talk about random insignificant things. However, the peace between them was broken when Malfoy sat up. "The spells worn off, we can go back to work now."

"Right." Hermione stood up at the same time as Malfoy and they both locked eyes.

"So uh, thanks again." Draco said awkwardly.

"Don't mention it." Hermione half smiled and pointed in the direction of her cleaning things, which still lay across the room, to indicate that she was leaving.

Hermione kept glancing back at Malfoy with her brow wrinkled in confusion. She couldn't believe she just had a normal conversation with Draco Malfoy. It was a little tense and felt kind of forced but no one was rude and no insults were thrown. She really had no idea what to think now.

She wasn't the only one; Draco as well didn't know what just happened. Every instinct in his body was fighting against it but he couldn't help but admit that what happened wasn't due to the spell Hermione used on him, no matter how much he tried to blame it on it making him drossy and his mind cloudy. However, he couldn't help but think that something was off. He hardly talked to anyone about his life, and to talk so much to Hermione Granger, of all people, was really off.

When it was time to go they gave an awkward nod of the head and then went their separate ways.

From the trophy room Draco went straight to his room to grab clean clothes and left again to the prefect bathroom.

He turned off the scented water once it was past his shoulders and tried to relax his body in the warm water. He wanted to wash away everything to do with Granger from his mind. But he couldn't; His thoughts kept coming back to everything that had happened between them since the second night of detention. He wished he could take everything back, him letting slip his secret, her healing him, their insult free conversations, everything. But since he couldn't turn back time he had to think of a way to make things how they used to be; when there was nothing but simple hatred between them. He decided the best way to get things back to normal was to treat her like he always has since their very first year at Hogwarts and just forget the last week ever happened. Satisfied with this he could finally relax his conscience.

When Hermione looked around the common room she noticed only a small number of students were still up. She saw that Ginny was separated from the other group of students, who were laughing by the window; she was curled up by the fire reading over her homework. Hermione made her way over to where Ginny was and briefly glanced at the other group, Zack was obviously the center of attention. Parvati and Lavender made it clear that they were very much interested in Zack by the way they kept tossing their hair, laughing too loudly, and finding every opportunity to touch him. Hermione felt a small serge of emotion go through her as she watched them. She couldn't tell if it was jealousy or if it was envy that they could be so open with their feelings. Either way it made her look away quickly and head straight to Ginny with no more delays.

When Hermione sat down across from Ginny, she let out an exhausted sigh and glanced over at her younger friend. "Hey, Gin'."

"Ginny jumped slightly, not knowing that anyone was near her. "Hermione." She acknowledged, "Did you just get back from your detention with Malfoy?"

"Yeah… What are you still doing up?" Hermione asked trying to move the conversation away from her detention with Malfoy.

"Can't sleep, so I'm just going over my homework." She rubbed her eyes and sat up straighter.

"Want me to read over it for you?" Hermione offered.

"No, I think it's good."

"I'm sure it is." Hermione said with a blush. She knows Ginny is smart and can handle her own homework, but she couldn't help but jump at the opportunity to distract herself with school work. _Bookworm indeed_, she thought bitterly. Hermione was really starting to hate that part of herself thanks to what Malfoy said to her.

After a short pause that was disrupted by an uproar of laughter coming from the other side of the room, Ginny spoke. "What do you think of that new guy? I saw the two of you talking earlier today." She innocently asked trying to hide her sly smile.

Hermione felt her cheeks grow a little warm, "I think he's quite nice. He's not what I expected him to be."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, when he came up to me today I asked him what happened to those girls that he was talking to. He said he didn't like talking to girls that only wanted to get his attention. Those weren't his exact words, but that's what he meant, and… I don't know." She shrugged glancing away. "That's not like most guys. Most guys would have _loved _to have had all those girls flocking around them. Also you'd expect someone who gets that much attention and is that good looking to be cockier, but it's like he hasn't let it all go to his head."

"True... Good looking guys usually have some kind of personality flaw, just look at Malfoy. It's hard enough to find a normal guy that's into girls that have a personality and not a girl that will worship him let alone such a good looking one." Ginny smiled at Hermione, "That must be why he's interested in you."

"What?" Hermione blushed darkened and shook her head vigorously. "He's not interested in _me_! He said himself he just wanted someone to talk to. I was just there, that's the only reason he spoke to me. Plus we've only spoken a few times."

"Give me a break Hermione. He's interested. I'm not saying he's mad for you, I'm just saying that he's interested in getting to know you."

Hermione shook her head, "There's no way Ginny."

"Oh, really? Then why is he walking over here right now?" Her grin broadened

"What?" Hermione whipped her head around to see Zack making his way over to where she and Ginny were. She turned back to Ginny and her eyes widened.

"He's been glancing this way ever since you came in." Ginny quickly whispered before Zack reached them.

"Hello Hermione." He smiled, "Hello…Ginny right?"

"That's right." Ginny said with a smile and a nod.

"I just came over to say goodnight." He said while looking at Hermione with a wide smile. "So good night." He then turned and disappeared up the stairs.

"See! What did I say?" Ginny said while bouncing in her seat a little.

"He just said goodnight." Hermione dismissed.

"You are so blind Hermione… I'm telling you he's interested."

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked down at her hands, "He's just being nice is all."

"Why is it so hard for you to believe that he might be into you?" Ginny asked as she lost her excited bounce.

"Why would a guy like that be into a boring bookworm like me?"

"Hermione you really are clueless." She said a little sadly to her friend.

"And what exactly am I clueless about Ginny Weasley?" Hermione asked defensively.

"To guys in general. You think you're a bore but really you're not. Now that we are older guys are starting to pay more attention to the serious, but fun, girls. Like you Hermione." She held up a finger before Hermione could interrupt. "You might not have a lot of friends but guys have started to pay attention to you and they see you laughing and having fun with Harry, Ron, and me. They can tell that there's more to you than smarts."

"Ginny I appreciate you being nice to me, but you don't have to say such ridiculous things." she said as she stood up.

"But Hermione -" Ginny was interrupted by Hermione's raised hand.

"I'm going to bed. Have a goodnight Ginny.' She then turned and marched up the stairs.

Ginny couldn't understand why it was so hard for Hermione to believe that guys could be interested in her. She was smart, witty, and she grew up to be quite beautiful. Every time a boy shows interest in Hermione she writes it off as them being friendly. She is totally daft when it comes to guys even though Ginny knew she has had two boyfriends, Victor and some muggle boy. When both relationships ended Hermione had told Ginny she knew they would never last. Ginny thought that Hermione figured that they never really liked her to begin with. The only thing Ginny figured all she could do was try to help open Hermione's eyes to the things right in front of her.

The next day Hermione was finding it rather hard to concentrate on her lessons. She found that she was kind of looking forward to detention tonight and that really disturbed her. She didn't believe that she liked Malfoy now but she was curious to get to know more about him because the more she talked to him the more she could understand why he is the way he is. It also felt good to not have to have her guard up all the time around him. After last night Hermione thought that she no longer had to worry about Malfoy hurting her again, physically or mentally. After all he did try to apologize for making her cry the other night. Hermione let out a frustrated growl and put her head down on her desk. _Am I being stupid? Last night could have been a fluke. Maybe it was the effect from the charm I used to heal him. That doesn't explain his apology though… _Hermione clenched her hair with both her hands in frustration. _It'll be different, he'll be different. Why else would he have felt bad for making me cry… I really hope he'll stay civil towards me. _Hermione's thoughts kept whirling in her head making her more and more frustrated.

After classes were over Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Ginny went out onto the grounds until dinner. When they found a nice sunny spot by the lake they sat.

"Here comes Amber and Jenna!" Ron said as he jumped to his feet to meet Amber with a kiss.

Harry stood up, grabbed Jenna's hand and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then sat down with the rest of the group.

"So, Ginny, Hermione, is there anyone you two like?" Amber asked with curiosity as she turned her smiling face away from Ron to look at them.

"Yes actually there is someone I like," Ginny said with a shy smile as she looked down at her hands.

"And who is that Ginny!" Ron demanded.

"I'm not telling," Ginny said with one of her sly smiles.

"Why not?" Jenna asked.

"Because I'm not sure if I really like him yet, but I'm . . . intrigued by him."

"It's the new guy, Zack, isn't it?" Amber asked with a knowing smile.

"No, it's not him, though he is quite handsome."

"Well then who is it? You can trust us, Ginny." Harry, along with everybody else, were getting more and more curious about this mystery man.

"I've already told you I'm not telling," Ginny said stubbornly.

"OK, you don't have to say," Jenna answered with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"What about you Hermione? Anybody you like?" Amber asked.

"No. I don't like anyone." She answered flatly.

"Really?" Ron asked.

"Yes really." Hermione was starting to feel very uncomfortable. The way they were talking and looking at her made her feel like they thought it was odd that there wasn't anyone she liked. "I wish I would fall for someone," Hermione accidentally said aloud.

"Careful what you wish for Hermione, it might just come true." Ginny said with a smile.

Hermione gave a slight jump at Ginny's response. "Uhh, well I better go, I…need to do homework before dinner." She got up quickly and made her way up to the castle.

"Is she alright?" Jenna asked as she watched Hermione walk away.

"Yeah, she's fine." Ginny answered, "I don't think she likes talking about that stuff."

"Oh . . ."

When it was time for dinner Ginny looked around for Hermione. Once she spotted her, she took the seat next to her.

"You alright Hermione?"

"Fine, why?"

"You ran off kind of fast back there."

Hermione shrugged "I don't feel right talking about that stuff. Weird right? Most girls like talking about boys."

"I don't think you're weird. It's just who you are."

"Hmm . . ." And that was the last thing said between them. Before she knew it, Hermione was making her way to detention where she hoped she would have another non-violent time with Malfoy.


	6. One on One

Draco was on his way to detention when he found himself walking towards the new guy Zack.

"Hey," Zack stopped Draco.

Draco shot him a very unfriendly look and growled out a _"What?"_

Zack ignored Draco's look and tone, "Do you know where Professor McGonagall's office is?" When Draco just stood there glaring at him Zack went on. "You see she asked me to come and see her so she can talk to me about my-"

"That's _fascinating_." Draco said in a tone that clearly said how un-fascinating he found it. "And yeah, I know where it is. I'm going there now." Draco instantly regretted saying that.

"Great," Zack said with a forced smile. "I'll walk with you then," he said with a sly smile. He knew that this was the last thing that Draco wanted.

"Fantastic," Draco answered with a sigh.

As they were walking Draco was brooding over his plans to be cold to Hermione. He really wasn't looking forward to tonight; he wanted to spend as little time as possible around Granger.

"You alright?" Zack asked as he studied Draco's face.

"Peachy." He shot out.

Zack just smirked and kept on walking. They went the rest of the way in silence. Neither one of them liked the other and they couldn't wait to get away from each other. When they got into the office McGonagall was there waiting for them.

"Ah Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger has already come and is awaiting you in the usually place. Let's not keep her waiting any longer." Draco nodded his head at McGonagall's hint, and started walking away.

"_Hermione?"_ Draco heard Zack whisper to himself. When Draco looked over his shoulder at him he saw Zack staring after him with confused curiosity.

Hermione was working on Harry's dad's trophy, not trusting Draco with it, when Draco walked in.

_"_Hello_?"_ Hermione said uncertainly. She wasn't sure if last nights peace between them would still hold tonight.

"Don't talk to me _filth_."

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh; she wasn't really surprised that he went back to his old ways, though she was disappointed. "This is getting _really_ old." Hermione looked at Draco with disgust and maybe a little regret, before she turned her back on him to continue her work.

Hermione and Draco worked the first two hours in silence before Blaise walked in with a letter in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked while staring at the letter in his best friend's hand.

"A letter from your mom just arrived," Blaise said as he handed over the letter to Draco. "I knew you would want it as soon as it came."

_Please let her be ok, please, please!_ Draco thought as he opened the letter

_To my Dearest, _

_I wanted to let you know that I have just arrived home from the Hospital. Everything is alright, for now, so don't worry yourself love. Your father has told me that he will not be punishing me for going to the hospital. I'm going to try and do as he says so as not to upset him. I advise you do the same. I hope everything is going well for you and that you're having fun and studying hard at school. _

_With all my Love, _

_Mom_

Draco closed his eyes and let out the air he was holding in his lungs in relief. When Draco opened his eyes, he saw Blaise watching him with concern.

"She's alright," Draco said with a relieved smile.

Blaise put his hand on Draco's shoulder and smiled back at him. "Thank God."

Draco glanced over at Hermione who was working on her trophy as if he and Blaise weren't even there.

"How much longer until you're out of here?" Blaise asked as he followed Draco's gaze towards Hermione, but didn't say anything about it.

"About another hour."

"Then I'll see you then." Blaise squeezed Draco's shoulder then left.

The rest of the time went by fast for Draco, and soon he was packing up his things and was turning to leave. But he stopped in his tracks when he saw Hermione standing by the door looking at him.

"I'm glad for you, that your mom's ok," she said in a quiet voice before she quickly left the room.

Draco just stood there staring at the place Hermione just abandoned. He was so determined to change things back to the way they were between them but then she goes and says that. Such a short, simple sentence but it caused Draco to feel something other than hatred towards her. He was a jerk to her tonight but despite that she could still find it in herself to show kindness towards him.

The next night Hermione was spacing out by the lake looking at the castle lights reflecting off the water. She was trying to avoid thinking about Malfoy and how he had went back to his old ways despite her hopes. But her solitude was soon interrupted.

"It's late to be out here by yourself." She turned around to find Zack looking down at her.

She turned back towards the lake. "I suppose it is."

Zack took a seat next to her and looked out across the lake. The reflection of the golden lights from the castle windows were shimmering in the water, they almost looked like they were dancing. "It's beautiful," Zack said half to himself, but Hermione heard him and looked towards him. The shadows of the night made him look mysterious and lovely. She laid her head sideways on her arms, which were folded across her knees, and watched the lights flicker across his face for a few seconds before she bit her lower lip and once again turned her head towards the lake.

"Why are you out here Hermione?" He asked as he turned his eyes from the lake to her. "I have a feeling it's not for the view."

Hermione blushed and paused for a second or two thinking about her answer. "I like it out here is all." She decided she didn't know him well enough to divulge any of her worries to him.

He didn't believe her though; he could sense something had upset her. "Really, that's all?"

Hermione looked at the lake again and didn't answer for awhile. Finally she spoke up, "I feel tired of my life. I want something new to happen. Something different, something that I've never experienced before. I want something to excite me, to curdle my blood, and completely enthrall me… I don't want to feel the same emotions everyday."

"What emotions do you feel?"

Hermione paused, she still hadn't taken her eyes off the lake. Then she spoke again, "Content, bored, happy, depressed . . ." Her thoughts went to Draco, "Confused . . ."

"I can understand the happy and content part but what do you have to be depressed and confused about?"

Hermione sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "It's depressing to look at those around me who have what I want, who can feel things that I won't let myself feel and envy them for it." She paused again and glanced over at Zack who was watching her with un-judgmental eyes. "I'm confused that recently I've wanted to help someone who honestly isn't even worth helping. Yet there's something there, something that lures me in, and I hate it."

Zack just watched her silently as she let all this slip past her lips. It was obvious she's wanted to say that to someone for a while. When it was clear she didn't have anything else to say he spoke up. "I wish there was something I could do to help you, some advice I could give or a helping hand. But all of these things sound like obstacles that you need to get passed by yourself. Everyone has their own mental challenges, things that our own minds block us from, and the only way I think anyone can get through it is if they break through themselves."

Hermione smiled a little bitterly. "You sound like you care a lot about me but I don't understand why. We've only had a handful of conversations; you don't know me at all."

"I don't know the answer to that myself." He studied her face as if he could find the answer there.

Hermione looked away from him and suddenly felt uncomfortable. "I'm going to dinner," she said as she stood to leave. "Thanks for hearing me out." She then hastily made her way up to the castle.

"No problem." Zack said quietly to himself as he looked back at the lake.


	7. Confusing Feelings

When Hermione was back inside of the castle she went to the nearest window she could get to that faced toward the lake and looked outside. Zack was still sitting out there staring out at the lake. Hermione stayed there for a few seconds just watching him. She didn't know what to think about Zack and his interest in her. Mostly she wrote it off as him just being nice but a small part of her remembered the conversation she had with Ginny last night and thought that maybe there was a chance…She was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw a group of girls walk towards Zack. Hermione quickly pushed away from the window. _That's right it would be impossible for him to be interested in me,_ she thought to herself before walking briskly towards the Great Hall for dinner.

When Hermione walked into the castle from the lake Draco had been walking down the same corridor on his way to dinner. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her. He was worried about having to speak to her but she didn't even notice him. She went straight to a window and looked out with a deep, almost sad look in her eyes. He walked over to a shadowed window and looked in the same direction she was looking. He saw someone sitting by the lake and squinted to try to make him out. It took him a few seconds but he finally recognized the new Gryffindor that had bugged him so much last night. _Why is she watching him with that expression on her face? _He found himself wondering despite himself. He noticed a group of girls coming towards him when his eyes were drawn back towards Hermione when she quickly pushed herself away from the window. He watched her leave and looked back towards Zack and the girls. "What are you scowling at?" Draco whipped around and saw Pansy watching him.

Draco walked away from the window and right passed Pansy without answering her.

When Draco got to the Great Hall he caught sight of Hermione solemnly picking at her food. Draco frowned and sat down with his fellow Slytherins.

Soon after dinner Hermione and Draco were yet again in the trophy room for another night's detention. They didn't say anything for awhile, but Draco kept glancing over at Hermione who was looking pathetic and lost. The longerDraco watched her the more he was getting angry at Hermione, though he didn't understand why. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He threw down his cloth and turned to Granger. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked annoyed and angry.

Hermione looked at him in astonishment. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been moping around all night," Draco snapped at her.

"NoI haven't." She snapped angrily.

"_Yes _you have. Don't try and hide it, you're no good at it. All your emotions show on your face, it's pathetic"

"Even if I have, what does it have to do with you? Why do you care all of a sudden?"

"I don't," Draco answered flatly.

"Then why are you asking?" She asked in an exasperated voice.

"Because it's pissing me off." He said plainly.

"God, you really are infuriating!" She snapped at him. "Why should me 'moping' have any affect what so ever on you?"

"I don't know!" He snapped back. "Just bloody stop alright!"

"Just mind your own business and leave me alone!" She yelled at him.

"I can't!" He tried to snap back viciously but he sounded more defeated than anything else.

"And why the hell not?"

"Because!" Draco let out a sigh then lowered his voice. "Because, you tried to help me when I had a bad day, and I can't stand seeing you look so pathetic." Draco really hated himself right now. He couldn't believe he was actually trying to help her out. He blamed it all on her for making him feel like he owed her something.

Hermione was confused. Since when did he care about her? And she didn't understand why he was so angry right now; it wasn't as if she asked him to talk to her. She turned back to the trophies in front of her and half heartedly growled out in a low voice, "Just leave me alone."

"_Fine,_" Draco mumbled as he to turned back to his work.

A few minutes passed when Hermione cautiously glanced over her shoulder. She bit her lip and let out a sigh when she turned around to face him again. "I've just had a lot of things on my mind," she said in a low almost timid voice. She wasn't sure if she should really start this conversation with Malfoy of all people.

Draco turned to her as she was twisting the rag in her hands and looking down at her feet. "And …," Draco asked.

Hermione sighed again, "And, I don't know. It's been bugging me."

"What has?" He asked a little exasperatedly.

"My life," she said in a defeated voice tossing the rag to the side.

Draco just looked at her; he was a little taken aback by her answer. But before he could say anything, Hermione started putting her things away and muttered, "It's time to go." Then just like that she was gone.

Later that night Draco lay in bed and stared at his ceiling with his hands behind his head. He was realizing that he couldn't help but feel drawn to Hermione. Not out of attraction but curiosity. She doesn't seem to be who he thought she was. It's been several days now since he let slip his secret to her and yet she hasn't told anyone. Even though everyday he expects to hear someone talking about it. He's her enemy, she should've told the whole school by now or at least be blackmailing him, that's what he would have done had the situation been reversed. But she was keeping her promise to him and that worried him. He was supposed to know his enemy, yet he felt like he didn't know her at all and he didn't like that. He now had to constantly be on his toes around her because he didn't know what to expect. Then there was tonight, he couldn't stop thinking about how depressed she looked. He told himself he didn't really care that she was upset, he was only curious to find out why. Her life she said, he wanted to know what was so bad in her life to make her that way. Surely she wasn't still effected by what he said the other night that made her cry…He had to know, so before he went to sleep he decided to talk to her again tomorrow.

Hermione was curled up in her bed not able to sleep. She felt like a complete idiot for opening up as much as she did to Malfoy. When he first asked her what was wrong she had absolutely no intention of telling him anything. But without thinking she answered. It was almost as if the answer was ripped out of her. She didn't understand what the draw was to Malfoy. He was still a complete jerk yet the past few days had made him seem a little more human to her and a little less monster. Then there was Zack. She couldn't quite figure him out either. All she knew was that she wanted to know more about him.

Ginny was sitting in the bay window overlooking the grounds. She was watching a lone figure below running alongside the forbidden forest. This was a sight she's seen a dozen times before and would come and see a dozen times over. It was him; the guy she wished would notice her. The guy she knew she couldn't, and shouldn't, have. But still, she sat there, watching him, waiting for some kind of miracle to happen. Ginny's trance was shatter by footsteps coming down the stairs of the girl's dorms. She already knew who it was. There is only one girl that was up before the sun.

"Good morning Hermione," Ginny said without turning around.

Hermione walked over to Ginny and glanced out the window. "G'morning. Do you know who that is?" she asked as she saw the boy Ginny was watching.

Ginny tore her eyes away from the window and looked up at Hermione. "No, I don't know who that is."

Hermione didn't believe her. She saw the dreamy look in her eyes while she was watching him. But Hermione didn't question her. She knew if Ginny wanted her to know she would tell her. "Alright, I'm going to creep down to the kitchen, I'm starved. Do you want to come?"

"Sure." She stood up and looked out the window one last time before she followed Hermione out of the common room.

"So what's new with you Ginny?" Hermione asked, trying to break the silence.

"Besides the snogging I have to witness Harry and Ron doing everyday, absolutely nothing."

Hermione let out a quiet laugh. "How are the boys and their girls doing anyway? It feels like I haven't seen them in days."

"You have classes with them and you're with them in the common room." Ginny stated as she looked at Hermione curiously.

"Well, yeah, but I've been so caught up on my own thoughts the last couple of days, that-"

"That even though you were _there,_ you weren't _really_ there." Ginny cut in.

"Exactly."

"Hmm…" Ginny looked at her curiously before shrugging and looking ahead of her. "They're happy. They seem to have a lot of fun with them, and it's obvious they care a lot for them." Ginny said as she thought about her brother's relationship with Amber and Harry's with Jenna.

"Does it make you sad to see Harry with Jenna?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Like I told you the other night I'm over Harry. So no it doesn't hurt me, or make me sad, or whatever. I'm happy for him. I really am." Ginny looked over at Hermione then asked, "Does it make you sad to see Ron with Amber?" Hermione looked over at Ginny wide-eyed. "Oh, don't look so surprised Hermione. I know you used to like Ron."

Hermione sighed, "No, I'm happy for him. I thought I could really love Ron but nothing ever came of it." She shrugged, "Eventually my feelings faded and I went back to thinking of him as only a friend."

"Do you regret it?" Ginny asked.

"Regret what?"

"Never making a move."

Hermione hesitated before she answered. "Sometimes. I think I could have been happy if it all worked out." She glanced over at Ginny. "Do you regret not making a move on Harry?"

"I did make a move."

Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and they stopped walking. "What? When?"

"Last summer." She stated simply.

"What happened?"

"We dated in secret for awhile." She looked Hermione in the eyes, "Don't get made that neither of us told you alright? We didn't tell anyone. It was kind of like a test run, he wanted to see if he could really care for me as a girlfriend and not just a little sister." She looked down at her hands. "Turns out he couldn't."

"Oh Ginny I'm so sorry."

She shrugged her right shoulder and they started walking again. "I won't lie and say it didn't hurt. It really did. But I got over it, just like you got over Ron."

"It helps that you have someone else you like now huh?"

Ginny smiled, mostly to herself. "Yeah it does."

They finally made it to the picture of the fruit bowl that hid the kitchen. Hermione reached out and tickled the pear and they turned the doorknob. Ginny and Hermione got some food from the house elves then took it outside. They sat down on the stairs leading into the castle.

While looking out at the rising sun, Ginny asked Hermione, "So how are your detentions going? I'm sure Malfoy is being a terrible prat."

Hermione bit her lower lip and looked out at the ground nervously. She always feels uncomfortable when people ask her how her detentions with Malfoy are going. She hated to lie to her friends but she knew she couldn't tell them the truth. Even if she could tell them everything that's been going on she really wouldn't know how to start. How could she put into words what's been going on when she herself didn't know? "Yeah he's been a prat of course, but I only have tonight and tomorrow night left in detention and then I don't have to deal with him anymore."

"I bet you're happy about that."

"Yeah I am. It's taking up too much of my time."

They sat in silence again just watching the sunrise and munching on their food. However, Ginny's curiosity got the better of her, "Anything new happen with you and Zack?" She asked as casually as she could.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean have you guys talked at all?"

Hermione's thoughts went to the talk she had with Zack by the lake. But she didn't want to share that with Ginny, "Only futile little talks in the halls and in the common room here and there. Nothing significant though. Why?" She glanced at Ginny a little nervously.

"Why? Because, I still stand by what I said the other night, that's why. He's interested."

Hermione just sighed and looked out at the lake.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Ginny asked. Hermione didn't answer. "Come on, Hermione, it's so-"

"Ginny, I don't want to get into this again. Ok?" Hermione cut her off.

Ginny sighed "Yeah alright Hermione, whatever you want."

"Thank you." She then stood up and dusted herself off. "I'm going to go make sure Ron and Harry are up. Do you want to come?"

"Gosh, what would those boys do with out you?" Ginny said with a smile.

"They would sleep away the day and flunk all their classes." Hermione said as she thought fondly of all the times she woke her boys up and helped them with their homework.

"To true. But no, you go on ahead. I think I want to stay out here a little longer." Her eyes briefly flashed to the boy that was still running out by the forest.

"Then I'll see you later." Hermione smiled down at her before she turned around and walked into the castle.

When Hermione walked into the common room she saw that neither Harry nor Ron were out of bed yet. She sighed and smiled to herself then she made her way up to their room. There they were sleeping like babies. Harry had his blankets tangled around his legs, exposing his well sculpted chest, and Ron had his blankets thrown completely off him exposing his well toned legs and back. Hermione smiled to herself, quidditch really did wonders to its player's bodies. She found herself wondering if Zack played quidditch before she shook herself and walked over to Ron's bed. She sat gently on the side of his bed, putting her hand carefully on his back, she tried to wake him. "Ron. Ron, come on it's time to get up." Ron grunted and shifted his body away from her. He's always the hardest out of the two to wake. "Come on, Ron." She shook him a little harder.

"Ten more minutes," Ron mumbled.

"No Ron, it's already 6:45. Now get up and hop into the shower, it well help wake you."

Ron grunted loudly and slowly turned on his back. With one hand he rubbed his eyes and with the other he sleepily rubbed his stomach where Hermione could see strong abs. Hermione quickly looked away. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she never noticed boys this much before. Ron opened his eyes and looked over at Hermione with a smile. "Morning."

Hermione smiled back, "Morning." She then quickly picked up one of his pillows that had been cast on the floor sometime during the night and hit Ron with it.

Ron put his hands up to block the second blow she threw at him. "What was that for?" He tried to ask sharply, but couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"For being so hard to wake up." Hermione answered with a smile as she got up and sat next to Harry. She was about to call out his name when a pillow landed straight on Harry's face stopping her. Harry jumped up and fell right out of bed. Ron, still holding the pillow, doubled over in laughter.

Harry pulled himself back up onto his bed. "What the bloody hell was that for?" He snapped at the still laughing Ron.

"Nothing mate, just seemed like a good thing to do." Ron answered between laughter. Harry bent over the side of his bed and picked up his shoe and chucked it at Ron's head. Ron ducked just in time. "Hey, that would have really hurt," Ron said as he stood up straight and stopped his laughing.

"Well it got you to stop laughing didn't it?" He smirked at Ron triumphantly before turning to Hermione. "What time is it Hermione?"

"It's 6:52." Hermione said watched her two best friends with a weary eye, ready to duck if they decided to throw more things at each other.

"Damn, we best get ready then. We only have about an hour left for breakfast," Harry said as he stood up and stretched.

Hermione walked over to the door. "I'll see you guys at breakfast."

"Alright, thanks 'Mione," Ron said as Harry gave her a short wave goodbye.

She smiled at the both of them and left to the Great Hall.


	8. Laughs

When Hermione walked down the line of tables she felt a pair of eyes following her from the end of the Gryffindor table. She looked up and saw that it was Zack. She blushed and quickly made her way to Harry and Ron, not daring to look over at Zack.

"Hey Hermione, we didn't think you were going to come." Ron said as he smiled at Hermione as she took her seat.

"Yeah what kept you? I thought you left before us?" Harry asked.

"I forgot my homework and I had to return a book from the library." She smiled nervously. But the truth was that wasn't at all what had held her up.

_Few minutes earlier_

"Granger!" Somebody called from behind her. Hermione turned around and saw Draco making his way towards her.

"What do you want?" She asked as he stopped in front of her.

"I just ran into McGonagall in the library. She told me to let you know that tonight's going to be our last night in detention," Draco answered in a bored voice.

"But I thought she said we had detention until Saturday?" Hermione asked puzzled.

"I guess she changed her mind." He shrugged off handedly, "Who care's what her reasons are. I'm sick of spending my nights there. But don't go killing yourself or anything Granger. I know how sad you're going to be not being able to spend your nights with me anymore. It must have been a nice change for you, to be around a real man," Draco said with a smirk as he casually crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Oh yes it was _wonderful _spending my nights with such a_ fantastic _and _charming _guy like yourself." Hermione's said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

Draco didn't respond. He just kept smirking as he watched her.

Hermione started fidgeting uncomfortably under his gaze. She didn't get why he was just watching her.

Draco's smirk widened as he noticed how uncomfortable he was making her.

"Well if you're done, I'm going to go."

Draco lost his smirk and pushed himself off the wall. He wanted to ask her about last night but he didn't want to call out to her again. _Screw it, _he thought. "Granger." She stopped and he jogged up to her.

"What." Hermione said a little impatiently.

"Last night." He said uncomfortably.

"What about it." She crossed her arms.

"You left really fast." He was really hating this right now. But he felt like he owed her some sympathy after everything she had done for him.

Hermione's stance loosened a little and she stared at the ground awkwardly. "I didn't want to talk about …what we were talking about anymore."

"Then why answer in the first place?"

Hermione looked up a little more defiantly. "I don't know ok. You asked and I just…without think I just answered." Draco didn't know what else to say. If she wasn't going to talk to him then that was it, he fulfilled whatever obligation he was feeling towards her. "Is that it? Can I go now?"

"Yeah, sure. Do whatever you want."

_End_

"Tonight's your last night with Granger?" Blaise asked Draco as they made their way to class.

"That's right."

"Awww, are you sad?" Blaise said with sarcasm as he put a fake sympathetic hand on Draco's shoulder.

Draco glared at him and shrugged his hand off his shoulder. "Don't be stupid."

"Was only teasing mate. But you_ did_ say she wasn't as annoying as you thought she was."

"Yeah she's worse. Her pathetic attempts at helping and consoling me have completely screwed with my head. I preferred her when she was just Potter's annoying little mudblood groupie, not this…whatever she is. Now I keep _talking _to her." He wrinkled his nose up in disgust. "I don't want to but it keeps happening."

Blaise looked at Draco seriously. "Why is that such a bad thing?"

"You're joking right?" Draco asked as he turned to face his friend. He saw the serious look on his face and knew that he wasn't. Draco sighed and answered. "Because she's a Gryffindor, she's Potter's best friend, she's a know-it-all bookworm, and she's a mudblood; and we both know what my father would do if he found out I was associating with her kind."

"First off, who gives a bloody hell if she's a Gryffindor it's only a name of a house. Secondly, you really need to get over this rivalry with Potter, really mate grow up. Thirdly, since when is it a bad thing to be smart? And lastly, you're father can stick it up his ass."

"Gryffindors and Slytherins don't go together too well if you haven't noticed, and the thing between me and Potter runs to deep to just forget about. And all she_ is_, is one big brain, and my father would quite literally kill me if he found out." Draco stated as if all this was blatantly obvious.

"I think you should stop going along with everything everyone expects you to go along with. Think about what _you,_" He gently pushed Draco's shoulder with his index finger to emphasize his point, "really want to do. You can deny it all you want mate, but there's a reason why you keep talking to her despite your conscience. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to find out what that reason is, instead of pushing it away."

"That's easy for you to say," Draco mumbled.

"No, it's not. If you remember correctly I'm a Slytherin too. I grew up with the same prejudice you did. My parents run with the same crowd and believe full-heartedly the same things your father does. It's true that my parents don't beat on me like your dad does, but who knows what they would do if they heard me talking right now." He put his hand on Draco's shoulder. "I know how hard it is to look past everything we were raised into. But Draco mate, I know you don't want to be like your father, so don't be like him."

Draco jerked away from Blaise's hand viscously. "Just screw off alright! I can't hear this shit." He turned his back to Blaise and walked the rest of the way to class alone. He was pissed, with both Blaise and himself. _Since when do I even listen to shit like that_? Draco thought bitterly to himself as he flung himself down in his seat.

The first thing Hermione did when classes were over was her homework, like always, and then relaxed in front of the fire place doing nothing but staring off into space.

"Hermione?"

Hermione jumped at the sound of her name. She looked up and saw Zack. "God, you scared me." She smiled.

"Sorry about that." He smiled back. "I was just wondering if you wanted some company?" he asked as he put his hands in his pockets while looking down at her, allowing his hair to fall into his eyes.

Hermione blushed as she looked up at the man in front of her. She looked down at her hands to hide her blushing cheeks. "Yeah sure, have a seat."

"Great!" he beamed with a boyish smile as he took the place in front of her.

"So umm...how are things?" Hermione asked shyly.

"Alright I suppose. They would be better if girls like_ that_ would go away." He nodded his head towards a group of girls jealously watching Hermione and giggling when they saw him indicate them.

Hermione let out a small laugh, "Well I guess that's what happens when you look as good as you do." Hermione blushed again, not believing she just said that.

"People like that make me sick," he said with a scrunched up nose. "They wouldn't be over there with those stupid looks on their faces if I looked like a dragon's backside."

Hermione laughed again. "You're right. But what can you do?"

Zack sighed, "Apart from trying to have a fistfight with a werewolf and getting my body mangled, nothing."

Hermione smiled. "At least you'll never have to worry about being lonely."

"Just because I have all those idiot girls following me doesn't mean I won't get lonely."

Hermione looked at him questioningly.

"I want the company of someone real, not someone with a one-track-mind."

Hermione nodded her head in understanding. "I get what you mean."

"That's why I like being around you, Hermione." He looked into her eyes with his smiling hazel ones. Hermione blushed and looked down. She didn't know what to say.

"Anyway, how have things been for you? Do you still have detention?"

"Yes but tonight's my last night."

"At least you'll be away from that Slytherin prat." He wrinkled his brow in remembrance of his encounter with Draco.

"He's not all _that_ bad. I mean sure he's shallow, he's cruel, _and_ he thinks he's hotter than the sun, but, I don't know, he has his moments." Hermione's eyes widened as she realized what she just said.

He watched her carefully for a few seconds before responding. "You would know better than me. But after everything I heard about him, and how he's given you a hard time since first year, I thought you'd hate him."

"Yeah, I should…" Hermione trailed off.

Zack was watching her curiously. Then his eye was caught by students leaving the room. "What time is it?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione looked down at her watch. "6:25."

"It's almost time for dinner. Do you want to walk down with me?"

"Sure," she smiled.

They both stood and made their way down to dinner. On their way there they noticed Lavender Brown, who was too busy trying to catch Zack's eye to notice the wall in front of her. She walked right into it and fell flat on her rear-end. Hermione and Zack started laughing.

"If she doesn't watch where she's going she'll knock out all her teeth; and God knows she'll have a heart attack if she can't use her mouth to blab about the latest gossip," Zack said which sent Hermione and himself into a fit of laughter again. They joked around the rest of the way until they had to separate to sit with their friends.

"What's the big smile about?" Ginny asked Hermione as she took her seat.

"Oh, I just came here with Zack. He's a good laugh, it's kind of surprising," she answered as she looked over at Ginny, who was just smirking at her.

"_What_?" Hermione asked with her arms crossed.

"Nothing." Ginny shook her head with the smirk still in place.

"Ginny?" Hermione pushed on.

"Well you _do_ seem to get on well with him, and I know he's interested in y-"

"Stop right there, Ginny Weasley! We are _just_ friends."

"Yeah, for _now_," Ginny mumbled as she looked down at her plate.

Hermione just rolled her eyes and shook her head. After dinner, Hermione made her way to her last detention with Malfoy.


	9. One Step Closer

Draco was late for detention, so when he walked in he saw Hermione was already there polishing a trophy. He smirked a little to himself as he thought about how after tonight he could start spending his nights however he pleased. And for Draco that meant being held up in an empty classroom somewhere with an attractive, nameless, girl. He walked over to where Hermione was and grabbed a rag so he could work on the last case of trophies with her. Draco sneered down at her before he grabbed a trophy and started polishing, determined not to even look at her.

Hermione glanced over at Draco as he took his place next to her. She bit her lip nervously and looked back down at the trophy in her hand. She was debating on whether or not she should talk to him or if he would get mad if she did. She decided since it was their last night together she might as well try. She could always stop talking to him if he gets angry. "So…your mom, how is she?" She held her breath and nervously looked up at him waiting for his response.

"Fine," Draco answered flatly.

She breathed out relieved. He hadn't ignored her and he hadn't lashed out, this was a good sign, maybe. "And your back? How is it?"

"It's fine."He glanced over at her with narrowed eyes. "_Why_?" he asked.

"Why what? Why was I asking about-?"

He cut her off. "No. Why are you talking to me like _this_? Like we're old acquaintances. And why have you been so…understanding about my situation with my family? I don't get you! We've fought for years, and now you have these _moments_ when you're civil, nice even. Now I want to know why? What are you playing at?"

"What was I supposed to do Malfoy? Mock you? Rub it in and make fun of you that your father _beats _you? Or should I have told the whole school so you could endure their ridicule on top of everything else you have to deal with at home?" She angrily looked up at him. "And should I have just ignored you while you were lying on the floor in pain? Maybe even took advantage of the situation?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" He yelled angrily. "We're enemies it makes no sense for you to help me. You should have used it as pay back for everything I've ever done to you and your friends. It's what I would have done."

"So if I came here with bruises and cuts all over my back and a mother in the hospital, all thanks to an abusive father, you wouldn't be sympathetic about it, you wouldn't try to help me?" She couldn't hide the emotion in her voice as she threw these questions at him.

Draco didn't even have to think about it, he knew his answer. "No. I wouldn't feel sorry for you, I wouldn't help you, and I would find away to use it against you.

Tears of anger pricked at Hermione's eyes as she took a step back from him. "How? How could you be so cold, so cruel?"

Draco sighed in frustration, "Because I can't be kind."

"Yes you can." She said in an exasperated voice. "I've seen you with your friends, with Blaise; you are always good to him."

"I meant I can't be kind to people like _you_." He gestured to her. "It goes against my nature."

"People like me." She repeated in a small voice and looked up into his eyes. "Mudbloods you mean?" Her voice got more vicious. "Or do you mean people who don't follow the dark arts?"

"_I_ don't follow the dark arts, despite what you and your_ friends_ may think. My father follows the Dark Lord, and I am _not _my father!" He angrily stated through clenched teeth.

"I thought your dad would have raised you into it, would have made you." Hermione was confused. First she found out that Malfoy didn't worship his fathers footsteps like everyone always thought he had, and now she finds out that he doesn't even follow the dark arts.

"Yeah right!" Draco said with a laugh. "My father's ashamed of me. He doesn't think I'm _worthy_ of his Lord! At least not until my _training _is over." Draco spat out.

Hermione responded in a low voice, "But he spoils you and-"

"Yeah well, despite everything he still feels the need to be a 'father.' Buying me things is the only thing he knows how to do." Draco growled.

"But you hate muggle borns." Hermione tried.

"Yes, but not because I follow the Dark Lord."

"I'm sorry, I always assumed…" she said in a small voice.

Draco laughed dryly. "You see Granger you're no better than I am. You go on and on about how I judge you and all the other mudbloods before I get to know them, yet here you are doing the same to me."

Hermione bit her lip, a nervous habit. "I'm sorry. I feel so-"

"See! There you go again, being all kind and apologetic!" He threw up his arms in frustration. "Why do you keep doing that? Why aren't you fighting back?" he asked irritated.

Hermione shook her head. "It wouldn't be right for me to fight you on this. I said I'm sorry because I am! But you, you can't even admit when you're wrong. Why can you only show kindness to those like you?" She demanded.

"It'snot that they're like me Granger, no ones like me. They're just not like _you_ and all those other fools at this school!"

"You hardly even know any of us! You told me that I'm going to miss out on life because I keep myself in a little bubble and never venture out of it. But you know what you are just like me. You are so entangled in your own little world you can't even see past your own self!"

"Enough," he grunted.

"Why are you like this? You're so callous."

"What choice did I have Granger! How else was I supposed to turn out when I had my father pulling at my strings my whole life! I don't know how to be any other way!"

Hermione took an involuntary step towards him and started to reach her hand out to him.

He ran his hand through his hair and turned, paced a few steps the turned abruptly back to her. "I never had a problem with it. I never questioned myself until I had this God forsaken detention with _you_. You drive me insane! You don't do anything I expect you to do and you show kindness when you should show bitterness. It shouldn't be so hard to hate you."

"I shouldn't have said anything. Malfoy I'm sor-"

Hermione was cut off by Draco walking over to her and pushing her against the wall. Her body tensed, waiting for him to attack her. He kept her pinned against the wall with both hands on her shoulders and had his head hanging so his forehead was only an inch from hers. He was taking deep breaths to calm himself down before he spoke. "Stop saying you're bloody sorry. It drives me mad."

"Why?" she asked in a whisper.

He pushed himself away from her, glad he was able to control his anger and walk away. "Because I don't know how to react or what to think."

"I don't understand." She said in a small voice as she slowly pushed herself away from the wall she was just pinned against.

Draco let out a frustrated grunt and tried to figure out how to explain it to her. "You have no reason to be kind to me. And yet…and yet you have been. I've given you no reason at all to be kind to me, and you don't owe me any favors, but still you've kept my secret and you helped me when I needed help. All this time I was sure you were trying to get me to trust you so you can make the blow of using my secret against me that much harder. But that isn't right is it? You're not so good a liar as to fake tears and sincerity. You're just naturally kind and I don't understand that at all. So now I'm stuck. I don't want to see you as anything but an enemy, but you're making that hard. And I can't see you as anything else, you're a mudblood and I'm a Malfoy. So stop being kind to me, for my sanity I need you to stop."

"I don't know what you expect me to do. I can't just be cruel to you, not about this."

"But why? After everything I've said to you, everything I've done, it should be easy for you."

"You've torn me down so many times I've lost count. You've humiliated me and have been cruel to me _and_ my friends. You've torn me a part so much that you've exposed the most sensitive parts of me, allowing you to see right through me." She took a step closer to him and looked up into his stormy eyes. "But you aren't the most significant thing in my life, I can move on from you and what you've done. I have great friends and a wonderful family that love me and would die for me. You, on the other hand, don't have that. You don't have a safe home and you have to live with a man that should be everything loving and protecting but instead is cruel and cold. You haven't affected my life so much that I would wish that life for you. So I can't help but want to help you if I can, no one deserves I father like that, not even you." She kept staring into his eyes; she couldn't help but notice the pull they had on her. There was so much going on behind them that she wanted to be dragged in to discover what it all was. She blinked and looked away. "I never expected you to be nice to me or change the way you thought of me, so don't worry about it. It doesn't have to be as big a deal as you're making it."

She didn't expect him to change his attitude towards her, but after all that how could he not? Before now he only had his mother and Blaise to show any kind of concern for him over his father. Because he had to keep it a secret he could never really get close to anyone because he could never share the biggest part of himself with them. It was a lonely life, though he would never admit that to himself. He hated her kindness but what he didn't realize was that he needed it and that's why he couldn't push it away entirely.

Hermione waited for him to respond but when he didn't she turned towards the trophy case. "We only have a few more trophies to clean." She stated to break the tense silence.

"Yeah." Draco said quietly as he picked up his rag.

They didn't say anything for awhile and just cleaned what was left of the trophies in silence. Once they had finished they both slumped down on the floor.

"How much longer until we're out of here?" Draco asked as he stretched.

"We still have an hour and ten minutes."

Draco let out a growl in dissatisfaction.

"So how are your studies?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

Draco couldn't help but smirk as well. He remembered, just as she did, the last time she had asked him that. He was lying on the floor too exhausted to move after she healed his back and she had sheepishly, and unsuccessfully, used that line to try and start a conversation with him. And now that simple line had some how broke the tension between them. "They're fine. I'd be happier though if you weren't beating me in every subject."

"Well that's do to me not having a life as you so kindly put it." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"After what I saw tonight I change my mind about that." he stated simply.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you laughing with that new guy on your way to dinner. I guess you do have a life if you can flirt with guys." Draco smiled at her reaction; he knew it would embarrass her, which is why he brought it up.

"I was _not _flirting! We're just friends," she barked at him.

"Whatever." He shrugged, not really caring either way.

"What about you?" She shot back. "Molest any innocent first years lately?" Hermione smiled slyly at him.

Draco snorted. "Please I don't molest first years, they molest me." He smirked.

Hermione tried but she really couldn't help but laugh.

Draco just rolled his eyes. They sat quietly for awhile; counting down the minutes until their last detention together was over. Then Draco asked, mostly to himself, "Why are we talking to each other?"

"Would you rather sit here awkwardly staring at the ceiling?"

"It feels weird."

"Then don't talk to me," Hermione said simply.

"I didn't plan it, it just happened."

Again they didn't say anything for awhile. Then Hermione bit her lip, "I wonder what Harry and Ron would say if they saw me talking to you like this."

"I wonder what the Slytherins would say," he thought about this for a second. "The guys would probably be jealous," he said plainly shrugging his shoulders and leaning against the wall he sat against.

"Why? They want all your attention to themselves?" Hermione smirked.

He shook his head at her joke. "No. They would be jealous of me, not that they aren't already." He smiled."

Hermione looked at him confused.

He sighed and explained. "You're Harry Potter's best friend and the top student. The one girl no Slytherin has a chance with. So naturally they have a bet to see who can corrupt the innocent Hermione Granger first, though I doubt any of them will actually pursue it."

"Eww." She wrinkled her nose. "I thought they hated me."

"They do, but that won't stop a guy from sleeping with you."

"Nice." Hermione said sarcastically.

"How much longer?" Draco asked.

"Twenty minutes."

"Damn." He leaned his head against the wall.

Hermione smiled. "That eager to get away from me?"

"Yes." He let his shoulders dropped a little and changed his answer. "You're alright for a mudblood."

Hermione ignored the mudblood part. "Don't hate me anymore?"

"Guess not." He shrugged, not really sure if he meant it.

"I guess I don't hate you either," Hermione said, but she couldn't tell if she really meant it or not.

Draco glanced down at her. "Then I guess that's one thing we have in common."


	10. Turned Down

Draco slowly walked down the empty halls. They were dark and tranquil. The stillness of it all was calming to him. He always found comfort in the dark passages of Hogwarts, and tonight he needed them to guide his thoughts. He was confused, as he always seemed to be these days, about the conversation, which could only be described as friendly, he just had with Hermione. He was surprised at his evident calm over it all when not three hours earlier he was in torment over it. He had to except that him and Hermione were no longer enemies, no matter how much he wished they were he couldn't deny that he no longer thought of her that way. He didn't know what to classify their relationship as. Were they friends? No he couldn't bring himself to think of her as a friend. He decided he would be willing to consider her a fellow classmate and acquaintance, an honor he bestowed on few. Most people were nothing to him, nonexistent. But Hermione was no longer one of those people; they had a sort of understanding of each other that prevented her from become nonexistent to him. It was strange to think of her this way but he remembered the look in her eyes every time he spoke of his life at home and whenever he was in pain; they reflected so perfectly his own feelings that he knew that she truly saw him. However, tonight was their last night in detention together, it was the last time they were to be thrown together. Now the question Draco asked himself was whether or not they would talk again, if he even wanted to or if he was content with leaving things the way they were now and not deepen whatever bond they now shared. He let out a frustrated growl and leaned his head against the cold stone of the wall. He thought that he didn't need her friendship and that it wasn't worth getting punished for if ever his father found out. But then he remembered all the times he saw Hermione depressed, how he had been a big part of that lately. She recently let slip that she wasn't satisfied with her life and he thought he was to blame for that because of what he said about her living a half life. Maybe he would talk to her again if only to make up for the torment he had caused her by pointing out the flaws of her life. Satisfied that this was the right thing to do he continued to walk and eventually made his way back to the Slytherin common room.

While Draco was drifting through the castle, Hermione was laying awake in bed thinking over everything. She and Draco were ok now, though she didn't know what that meant exactly. Like Draco she couldn't bring herself to think of him as a friend. But she was completely dragged in by him. He was the most complex person she had ever met and it was driving her mad to figure him out. She sighed and turned on her side to see out the window near her bed. Tonight had felt like the last night they would talk. There was a sort of finality to it and Hermione felt a sting of disappointment. She spent a great deal of the night trying to figure out if she should try to speak to him again or if should just leave well enough alone.

The next day she woke up around 10:30 a.m., this was proof of her late night since she never slept in that late. After she got dressed she went down stairs and crawled into a chair by the fireplace. She saw Ginny, Harry, and Ron walk out of the common room with their bags, probable on their way to Hogsmeade. They didn't see her though, and that was fine with her. She didn't feel like going to Hogsmeade or being social in general. But her luck was shattered by a call of her name. She turned around and saw that it was Zack.

"Hey," she smiled half heartedly.

"Hey, I was wondering," he grinned his charming smile at her, "if you would like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Hermione's eyes widened and she blushed. Was this a date or just a friendly outing? She couldn't tell. Up until now she only thought of him as a friend but the possibility of him asking her out on a date had changed that. Could he potentially be something more to her? This too she couldn't tell, as of this moment she still only felt friendship towards him. She thought she'd better play it safe until she knew what his intentions were, so she politely declined claiming she wanted to take advantage of the quite of the common room and read a book.

"Oh." He looked slightly downcast. "Do you want company? I could stay behind with you?"

Hermione blushed again, "No don't be silly, it's your first trip into town. Don't let me ruin it for you."

"If you're sure."

Hermione nodded and smiled warmly at him. He gave a slight nod and a tight smile before he walked off. When he was gone Hermione took a book out and started reading. She read for about an hour and a half when she decided to go down to the lake to enjoy the sun.

The grounds were deserted. Over half the school was gone and only a few walked the grounds, the rest were inside for lunch. She took a seat on a big rock by the lake and looked out across the grounds. This remind her of the times Zack and Draco had found her there, both meetings were eye openers. Zack…Hermione couldn't help but wonder if she could fall for him. He was smart, funny, handsome, and he seemed to like her, though she didn't know in what way. She tried to imagine herself with him but interrupted her own day dream by shaking her head vigorously. Not that there was anything wrong with the picture but she really couldn't see herself with anyone. She laid her head on her knees and baffled at how pathetic she really was. What sixteen, almost seventeen, year old girl didn't think about romance? Hermione wasn't sure if romance even existed or if it was just a trick we all fooled our selves into believing. Great, now she was becoming a cynic, she was really starting to dread the type of person she was turning into. Her self pitying mood was interrupted by the crunch of gravel. She looked up and got a sense of déjà vu as she saw Draco walking towards her.


	11. Trust Is Needed

"Hey," Draco greeted as he looked down at Hermione.

"What are you doing here?" She asked calmly.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I was walking the grounds and I saw you sitting here." He noticed that she looked a little upset. "Is it alright that I'm here?"

"It's fine." She answered offhandedly.

Draco watched her for a few more second trying to see if she would show any distress over him being there. When he couldn't detect anything he took a seat about four feet away from her, trying to give her, and himself, some space. He looked out across the lake and watched the giant squid happily waving it's tentacles through the air trying to bat at the birds who were teasingly flying just out of reach above it. With out moving his eyes from the scene in front of him he mildly asked, "What's wrong Granger?"

Hermione glanced at him before answering. "Why do you think something's wrong?"

"I can tell just by looking at you. I've told you before that you wear your emotions on your face. You're easy to read"

For some reason Hermione got defensive and angrily snapped at him. "Not all of us can be emotionless rocks like you!" Draco was surprised at her reaction. He narrowed his eyes at her and made to leave. "Wait." Hermione stopped him. "I didn't mean to snap at you. I don't even know why I did it. Habit maybe."

Draco lost some of the tension in his shoulders and slowly sat back down. "I wasn't insulting you." He stated.

Hermione sighed, "I know, I'm sorry. I guess I keep expecting you to go back to the way you were before." Hermione looked into his eyes. "I'm sorry; this is just going to take some getting used to."

"It's fine." He responded, but he felt how hard all this was going to be."Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Hermione's shoulders dropped and she looked away from him. "What's the point? It's not like you can help."

Her words were cold and Draco quickly stood up. "Right."

Hermione looked up at him with wide eyes. "Why are you getting so upset right now?"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. Tell me what you're problem is!" She demanded.

He glared down at her and said in a low angry voice, "You started everything. When you decided to be kind to me you made me feel guilty for treating you the way I do. So now I'm trying to be civil here. But you coldly dismiss me, almost going back to the way things used to be." She made to speak but he stopped her by quickly pushing on. "You put yourself in the middle of my problems, but I'm not even worthy enough to know yours. Old habits die hard I guess." He sneered.

Hermione was feeling terrible now. She knew he was struggling with everything and she could tell that even though he wanted to put things back to normal between them he couldn't after everything that's happened. And she's already, though reluctantly, admitted to herself that she wanted to get to know him more, she no longer saw him as her enemy. She tried to apologize but in the middle of it he stopped her.

"Just stop. I don't care enough to hear any more apologizes. I just find it irritating that you strive so hard to make me trust you and yet when I'm really trying here you lock yourself up. Is this all this is, some one sided…_thing_? Or am I some pet-project of yours? Trying to fix the damaged Slytherin?"

"That's not it at all!"

"Really, because that's what it feels like, like you were just satisfying your curiosity about me or trying to figure out what makes me tic. Well I'm sorry Granger but I'm no ones experiment." Draco's emotions were clearly showing in his voice, he was angry and maybe even a little hurt. He abruptly turned his back on her and started walking toward the castle. He felt like a fool, to think he had thought there was more to her kindness to him besides general concern. He had thought that maybe she had tried so hard to talk to him, even after he was better, because she was interested in being, not quite friends, but something close to it. He was angry at her for misleading him and himself for even caring.

He was halfway to the castle when he was stopped by hands clutching the back of his robes. He stood very still and didn't turn around. "I'm sorry," she said in a low voice as she rested her forehead on his back. Draco stiffened at how intimate it felt. "I swear everything I've done was done purely out of concern and nothing more. I was curious about you but only because there was so much more to you than I thought. I really want to get to know you better, and not purely because I'm curious, but because I think I at least owe you that after misjudging you. I want you to get to know me as well, but a part of me still doesn't trust you so I can't just easily open up to you."

Draco turned his head slightly to the left to glance down at her over his shoulder. "You think any of this is easy for me? I too don't fully trust you, and I doubt I ever well, and yet you know things about me that only one other person in this entire school knows about. How do you think it feels to have your greatest secret known to someone you don't trust? It's hard, and it's why I need to know more about you, I need to know I can trust you."

"I would never tell anyone, I know what would happen to you if it got back to your father."

"You saying that doesn't ease my anxiety over it. I'm stressed all the time; every time I walk past a group of whispering Gryffindors my heart races thinking that they know, that they're talking about it. I can't live like this the rest of my life." Hermione nodded her head against his back in understanding. "I don't like it but the only way I'm going to ever trust you is if I get to know you better." He knew that she truly saw and understood everything he's gone through but he didn't know how long any of this would last. He wouldn't admit it, but that wasn't the only reason why he wanted to get to know her.

"I'll try. I'll really try to let you know me."

He turned around as Hermione dropped her grip on him and looked her in the eyes. "Good."

Hermione indicated Draco to follow her as she led the way back to their seats by the lake. They sat down and Draco watched her expectedly, waiting for her to tell him what her problem was. Finally she opened her mouth and tried to explain to him what has gotten her so frazzled. She shyly told him how she was asked out today, but left out who it was. She then proceeded to tell him that the prospect of any guy liking her worried her. She's been in two relationships before and they both ended because the boys felt like she was only their friend and not their girlfriend. She just didn't know how to be a girlfriend.

Draco rolled his eyes and resolved to leave. This sounded like some trifling girl issues that really didn't matter at all. He was making to get up when he stopped as she spoke up again.

"Usually things like this don't bother me. But it's not about the boy, or being in a relationship, it's about me feeling like I'm too different from other girls my age." She smiled. "Saying it out load makes it sound like a trivial thing. But it's been making me think that I'm…I don't know, emotionally void or something." She was embarrassed to reveal this to him. Saying it out load and not having the words to really convey her feelings made her problems seem silly and unsubstantial. "Right now I'm content with my life but what if later on when I'm older I want to be with someone and I won't know what I'm doing." She buried her head as her embarrassment deepened. "I just don't want to end up a lonely old maid."

Draco felt for her but he didn't know what to say. He eventually reached over and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry so much about it." He tried awkwardly. "I'm sure you'll make some pathetic mouth breather fairly happy one day." He paused and thought for a second, "And there's always lesbianism if that doesn't work out." Hermione let out a snort of brief laughter. "I can picture it now, some frumpy little women on your arm and you with a mullet."

Hermione laughed loader and pushed his shoulder. "Alright stop!" She smiled at him. "Thanks."

"For?" he said nonchalantly.

"Making me feel better."

Draco was about to respond when the sound of crunching gravel made them both turn their heads. Pansy, in all her unpleasant glory, was coming towards them. Both Draco and Hermione let out a groan of distaste at the sight of her. She crossed her arms and slightly jutted her hips out, her whole stance screaming bitch. "Having a good time are we?"

"What are you on about?" Draco asked as he stood up, soon followed by Hermione.

"Don't play daft." She barked. "I saw the two of you laughing out her. All chummy are you? Is she your new mate Draco? Or maybe your new screw?" She sneered at the both of them.

"I'm nobodies screw." Hermione said taking a step closer to the Slytherin girl.

"I'm sure." Pansy said with sarcasm. "What has gotten into you Draco?"

"I've already told you several times Pansy to stay out of my business. Now I suggest you leave before things get unpleasant." His voice darkened to a dangerous level. Pansy narrowed her eyes at him and smirked before walking away. Not a good sign.

Hermione bit her lip and turned to Draco once Pansy was out of ear shot. "She's going to tell everyone we were together isn't she?"

"Yeah, knowing her she probably is."

"What are you going to do? If it gets back to your father…" She trailed off concerned.

"I'm not worried about it. The Slytherins will either think she's lying or that I'm just using you for sex."

"Great." Hermione said with sarcasm but she couldn't hide the anxiety in her voice.

Draco turned to her and studied her face. "What will you do if Potter and Weasley hear? I'm sure they won't _approve _of you associating yourself with me." She bit her lip again as she got more worried. "You could always lie. Tell them I was teasing you or something."

"I don't want to lie. If we're going to keep this up, this not hating each other thing, they're going to find out eventually." Hermione looked over at him, "Unless you think it would be easier just to go back to hating each other." Even though he didn't seem worried she didn't want him to get into any trouble.

"It would be easier." He stated bluntly. "Is that what you want?" Again he watched her face carefully.

She only needed a brief second to think about it before she shook her head. "No, I don't want that."

He was staring over her head and said, "Then I suggest you put your game face on because we're about to be thrown into a world of shit."

Hermione turned around and followed his gaze. The first groups of students were making their way back from Hogsmeade and heading towards the castle, where no doubt Pansy was awaiting their return.


	12. Rumors

Pansy made sure the news of Draco and Hermione talking by the lake spread quickly. The rumors were spreading like wild fire and each time it was told it got more and more exaggerated. Draco was in his common room getting forlorn glances by the girls and knowing smirks from the guys who all thought Hermione was just the next girl on Draco's list to be used. He sat back totally at ease. He didn't care if people thought he was sleeping with her, it would only be bad if they thought he was friends with her or even worse dating her. Hermione on the other hand was having a much harder time. None of the Gryffindors would speak to her except Harry and Ron, but at the moment she wished they'd stop speaking to her as well.

"What the bloody hells is going on Hermione?" Ron asked as his face was starting to turn red with his anger.

"You weren't really with Malfoy today were you?" Harry asked, hoping the rumors were false. Hermione just nodded her head and both Harry and Ron grunted in disgust. "You're supposed to hate Malfoy." Harry stated. "What in the world would possess you to go on a date with him?"

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "I was _not_ on a date with him. We were just talking. That's it."

"That's it?" Ron exclaimed not believing she was pushing it off like it was no big deal. "He's an evil git Hermione; the only time you should speak to him is if you're throwing a curse at his stupid git face."

"How could you socialize with him after everything he's done?" Harry asked somberly.

Hermione was starting to panic as she saw the way they were starting to look at her. "He's not what we've always thought he was. I mean yes he's an arrogant ass and he's prejudice and can be cruel, but that's not all there is to him. If you would just give him a chance-"

"Give him a chance!" Ron said in disbelief.

"Yes Ron, give him a chance!" Hermione snapped back. "He's really not all bad."

"Really Hermione?" Harry asked not believing what he was hearing. "Because if you ask me his actions over the years have proved that he's _exactly _what we think he is."

"But there are things you don't know!" Hermione tried. She desperately wished she could tell them about Draco's upbringing, she knew if they knew they would be more understanding. "There's always more to a person than everyone sees."

"I can't believe you right now Hermione I really can't." Ron fumed. "His family are follows of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!"

"Yes!" Hermione said exasperatedly. "But that doesn't mean he does. If you judge him when you don't really know him that makes you just as bad as he is."

"Don't you _dare_ compare us to him!" Harry snarled angrily. "We know him well enough to know he is a no good slug of a person. What lies has he been spouting to you?"

"None! If you would only trust me on this -,"

"I'm not sure I can ever trust you again if you can trust someone like him." Harry interrupted and Ron nodded in agreement. "If this is truly you're judgment of Malfoy then you're not the person we thought you were." He looked at her somberly. "It's him or us Hermione."

"That's not-"

"Choose!" Ron yelled.

Hermione bit her lip; she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to lose her two best friends but she also didn't want to stop talking to Malfoy. She knew she couldn't just abandon him when he needed to have her trust. She also knew that only his mother and Blaise knew of his secret besides her and she was afraid if she betrayed his trust he would never open up to anyone again. That would be a lonely life that would most likely lead to him become even worse of a person than he already was. "I wish you would just try and trust me. We're friends aren't we?"

"As your friends we want you to stop talking to him," Ron stated.

Hermione shook her head as tears started to spill from her eyes. "And I want you to trust me on this," she let out a shaky breath and looked them both in the eyes. "I can't not talk to him."

Harry stared at her in amazement. "You would choose him over us?"

"I shouldn't have to choose! If you guys were truly my friends you would just _trust_ me, as my friends you owe me that."

Ron shook his head and Harry spoke again, "I can't trust you, not anymore."

"You're really not the person we thought you were Hermione." Ron stated with a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice.

"As long as you insist on being friends with him we can't be your friends." Ron nodded his head in agreement with Harry.

Hermione gasped and ran out of the common room and didn't stop running until she made it to the library. She stayed there for hours just thinking over everything and generally feeling sorry for herself. When dinner came around she didn't bother to go. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle the feeling of hate that would crash down on her as soon as she sat with the rest of the Gryffindors. So she just sat there with her head in her hands feeling completely alone.

"How did I know I would find you here?" She looked up and saw Draco smirking down at her. His smirk slowly faded as he saw her tear stricken face and took a seat across from her. "Was it that bad?" He asked.

Hermione bit her lip as her tears started flowing again. She quickly wiped them away. "It was that bad," she said in a heavy voice.

"What happened?" Hermione told him everything from how every Gryffindor was treating her up to the incident with Harry and Ron. When she was done Draco couldn't hide his surprise. "Why didn't you just tell them you'd stop talking to me?"

"Because, if they were as good of friends as I thought they were they would have trusted me, and not ask me to choose. It wasn't like I was asking them to be friends with you. I was just asking them to have faith in my judgment. But to them I'm a traitor." Hermione put her face in her hands again.

Draco looked at her, bewildered. He had a feeling they would ask her to stop talking to him and he thought for sure she would agree. Why would she risk losing her friends? He had to know so he asked her.

She looked back up at him with blurry eyes. "I told you I would gain your trust. Ditching you after everything would only do the opposite." Hermione shook her head and covered her eyes again. "I never thought they would just toss me aside like that. I thought as my friends they would at least _try _to understand. I would never be able to throw my friends out as easily as they did." She gave a slight shudder as she tried to suppress the next wave of tears.

Again he stared at her in bewilderment. He had never met anyone like her before. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat. "Thanks."

"For what?" Hermione hiccupped.

"For standing by me." He shrugged. "I don't understand why you did, but thanks."

Hermione smiled up at him before her shoulders drooped. "What am I going to do?"

Draco sighed and leaned back into his chair. "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I want to make them understand." She ran her hands through her hair. "But I know that's not going to happen."

"Want me to have a chat with them?" Draco asked. Hermione looked up and then she and Draco both started laughing. There's no way the three of them could sit around having a _chat_.

"Yeah, like that would help." Hermione laughed. "You would all end up cursing each other."

"I know." He smiled as if he wouldn't mind that out come.

Hermione smiled too, but then her smile faltered. "How did it go with your house?"

"It wasn't bad." He shrugged. "The guys were only asking me how you were in bed."

"And what did you tell them." She asked a little tensely.

"I told them you're a wild cat in the sack."

"You what!" Hermione lifted up a book to whack him with.

Draco laughed and held up his arms. "Joking, joking. I told them Pansy was full of it and she was only trying to get back at me for not taking her back." He smirked. "I don't think they believed me though."

"Oh great." Hermione sighed.

"The girls, on the other hand, were weeping over me all day." Draco smirked and Hermione rolled her eyes, "They're just jealous because they want my body." Hermione laughed, thankful, and surprised, that once again he was able to make her feel better.

A little while later they both left for bed. When Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room she looked around carefully to make sure there wasn't anybody up that she didn't want to run into. When she thought the coast was clear she started to make her way to the girls dorm. She jumped slightly when she heard someone calling her name. She slowly turned around and let out a groan when she saw Zack sitting by the fireplace waiting for her.


	13. To Save a Friend

Hermione stared at Zack for a split second before she stiffened her back with determination and stomped over to him. All day she has been harassed by other students with their ridiculous questions and now she wouldn't take it anymore. When she reached him he drew back slightly by her aggressive stance as she snapped at him. "Lets just get this out of the way shall we?" She glared at him. "No, I'm not sleeping with Malfoy. No, I don't plan on running away with him. And no, I'm not caring his child. I think I've covered about everything or do you have a new absurd question I haven't heard yet?" She crossed her arms defensively.

Zack put his hands up in defense, "Whoa, calm down will you. I don't believe any of those outrageous rumors."

Hermione let her arms drop to her sides and loosened her stance, "You don't?"

"Of course not."

Hermione dropped down in the chair across from him and let out a long sigh, "I'm sorry. It's just been so out of control. Harry and Ron won't even look at me, and everyone's convinced that there's something going on with Malfoy and me. But I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, I'm sorry."

Zack smiled a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it. I understand that you're under a lot of stress right now."

"Thanks I really appreciate that." She leaned back and said in a defeated voice, "I wish this would all go away."

"I know how you can make the rumors stop." He said in a level voice.

"How?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"If you started dating someone no one would think you had anything going on with Malfoy." Zack stared into Hermione's eyes meaningfully.

Hermione blushed and looked down. She wouldn't dare say yes to his offer. She knew eventually he would dump her and Zack was the type of guy that she could really fall for. She couldn't handle the stress of a breakup on top of everything else right now. "I can't date you Zack." She said in a small voice, not daring to look into his eyes.

Zack's eyes widened in surprise, he was sure she would say yes. He had made sure that she knew that he preferred her to any other girl and he had used all his charms on her. For a brief second his eyes narrowed and darkened as he looked at her, but he quickly shook it off and asked why. "Have I displeased you in some way? Or have a done something-"

"No!" Hermione broke in nervously. "It has nothing to do with you personally." She smiled shakily and in a quiet voice said, "You're great."

"What is it then?" He demanded.

"I just can't date anyone right now." She didn't want to have to explain her fears or insecurities to him.

Zack watched her. He greatly wanted to push the issue but he knew if he did there was a chance that he would only drive her further away from him. He nodded curtly, "Alright." He stood up and reached his hand down to tilt her chin up so she would look into his eyes. With an intense look in his eyes he said, "I won't give up. But I'll accept your answer for now," he gave a smile that looked almost wicked and walked away.

The tension in her body finally eased as he disappeared up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. She spent a good hour down by the fire thinking about what had just happened with many blushes before she too went up to bed.

About a week after Hermione was asked out by Zack, Draco was walking to the Slytherin common room after dinner and was suddenly shoved into an empty class room and was slammed against a wall. He quickly whipped around with his wand out but the door had been closed and it was too dark to see his attacker. He cast a spell and the candles in the room were quickly lit. There standing before him with their own wands out were Harry and Ron. Draco smirked at the both of them. "You don't want to do this boys."

Ron sneered at him. "Oh trust me we do."

"It's been a week and Hermione still hasn't come to us." Harry stated as he glared at Malfoy. "What the bloody hell have you been telling her ferret?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Malfoy smiled.

"Stop playing games!" Ron yelled.

"Why have you suddenly taken an interest in her?" Harry asked as he pointed his wand higher up on Draco's chest.

"No ones taken an interest in anybody. Granger and I just have an understanding."

Harry and Ron glanced at each other. "What kind of understanding?" Harry asked slowly. Draco gave a suggestive smile and Ron launched himself towards him but Harry was quick to stop his friend.

"Liar!" Ron yelled.

Draco just shrugged his shoulders in response. He was pissed that they cornered him like this so he thought he would play with their heads a little.

"Just stay away from her!" Harry said in a strained voice as he still fought to restrain his friend.

Draco's eyes darkened as he looked at them. "You don't tell me what to do Potter. And Granger, she does what she wants. I could stay away from her but that doesn't mean she'll stay away from me." He gave another suggestive smile.

"You son of a bitch." Harry cursed under his breath. He let Ron go and they both lifted their wands towards him.

"_Expelliarmus" _Both Draco and another voice behind Harry and Ron shouted.

Ron's wand was caught by Draco and all three boys stared as Harry's wand was caught by Hermione.

Harry and Ron both had hurt and then anger flash across their eyes. "Two against one Harry? I thought you were better than that." Hermione stated as she tossed his wand back to him.

"You shot a spell at us." Ron said dumbly.

"To save _Malfoy?"_ Harry finished in disgust and anger.

Hermione's eyes softened and she bit her lip. "It wasn't a fair fight Harry." She said in a low voice.

Neither of the boys said anything, they just stared at her. Their anger slowly turning into hate. Without saying another word to her, or even looking at her, they started for the door, both knocking into her as they passed by.

"Forgetting something Weasel?" Draco ask darkly and Ron turned around to see Draco holding up his wand. They locked eyes for a few second before Draco threw it to him. Ron caught it and was quickly out the door with Harry. Draco looked over at Hermione and smirked. "Way to go Granger."

"Don't." Hermione snapped a little, not able to hide the tears stinging at her eyes. "I had no pleasure in doing that." She wiped at her cheek viciously as a tear broke free. "They'll never forgive me now."

Draco rubbed the back of his head a little nervously. "Sorry."

Hermione smiled weakly and left the room. Draco let out a long sigh and leaned against the wall. Things were really starting to get out of hand.

By the end of classes the next day the whole school had heard about the fight. Now not only the Gryffindors but Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were shunning Hermione. It was one thing to be sleeping with the enemy and a whole other thing to have actually used a spell against Harry Potter the school hero. At the end of the day Hermione could bear it no longer. So as soon as classes were over she rushed passed the other students and went to hide out in a high tower in the west wing were she knew nobody ever went do to its dark rooms and dirty floors. But Hermione didn't mind all that, she just wanted to be alone. However, she wasn't to be alone for long. She heard the door open and quickly crouched down behind an old desk in hopes of not being seen.

"Granger? I know you're in here I followed you." Hermione recognized the voice as Draco's.

She let out a sigh of relief and spoke, "I'm over here."

Draco followed the sound of her voice and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness he spotted her outline sitting on the floor. He sat down next to her and then looked around with a wrinkled nose. "Isn't this a lovely place," he said with sarcasm. "It figures you would come to a place like this," Draco sighed.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Hermione growled.

Draco just waved off her question. "It doesn't matter." He looked at her not really able to see her face. "I heard what happened today at lunch. Hermione lowered her head and bit her lip. When she didn't say anything he continued. "You were being bullied by a group of seventh years right in front of Harry and Ron and they did nothing to stop it."

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself. "I told you last night that they would never forgive me for what happened." She said in a weak voice.

Draco tried to search her face to make out her expression but it was just too dark. He gave up and leaned his head back. He knew there was nothing he could say to make her feel better so instead he decided to distract her. "Did you hear the rumor that I knocked you up?"

Hermione snorted. "Yes, people are daft. Do I even look pregnant?"

"Well it does look like you gained a few pounds." Hermione raised her wand, but Draco spoke before she could curse him. "Kidding. You look fine."

She lowered her wand and smirked. "Have you heard the one about you having a pink heart with my name tattooed on your ass?"

Draco smiled and shook his head in disbelief. People really were daft if they thought he of all people would tattoo any girls name on any part of his body let alone his ass. "How about the one where a jump your bones in the library every night. They say it's the real reason you spend all your time in there."

"What?" Hermione said in despair.

"Yeah." Draco smiled as he put his hands behind his head. "That one's my favorite."

Hermione smacked his leg. They sat silently for a few seconds before Hermione said, "Have you heard the one about me going to Dumbledore to ask him if I can switch into Slytherin so I can be closer to you?"

An image of Hermione sitting around the Slytherin common room drinking tea with Pansy and Millicent came to Draco's mind and he started to laugh. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise; this was the first time she had ever heard him laugh so hard. She smiled to herself, she liked hearing him laugh like that.

After talking more about all the rumors they've heard said about them Hermione turned to Draco and smiled in wonderment. "I don't know how you do it but you always seem to make me feel better."

Draco just shrugged and they fell into silence. A thought came into Draco's head and he turned towards her. "Is that Zack guy siding with Harry or has he stuck by you?"

Hermione blushed and looked at her hands. "He doesn't seem to be on anyone's side." She said in a nervous voice.

He straighten up and examined her. "Has he done something? You don't need to cover for him if he has."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She said under her breath. She knew Draco didn't think she was anything special so he would probably find it hard to believe that someone like Zack would be interested in her. Draco was looking at her expectantly and Hermione sighed in resignation. "He asked me out." She mumbled.

"He doesn't waist any time does he." Draco said half to himself as he realized Zack hasn't even been there a full month yet. "Well congratulations then. At least now the rumors will stop." He said in an unaffected voice.

"Thanks for the congratulations but I'm not going out with him. I said no."

"Is it your rule or your parents that you can't date?" He was surprised. He remembered seeing them together and she always seemed to like him.

"There is no rule. I just can't deal with being dumped on top of everything else right now."

"How do you know you're going to get dumped?"

"I know myself well enough to know how it will turn out." She answered as if that was the dumbest question she ever heard.

Draco looked her up and down critically. "Don't be daft."

"Excuse me?" She said with attitude. "How am I being daft?"

"Don't do the stupid girl thing and wait in a bloody tower for prince charming to come riding along on his pony to knock your knickers off. Just take him up on his offer, you're no princess Granger."

"I'm not waiting for anybody!" She snapped.

"Then why say no to Mr. Italy? I think he's a totally waist of space but you seemed to like him."

"I have my reasons. Can we just drop this?" She asked harshly.

"Fine, I wanted to get to bed anyway." He shrugged and stood up. He didn't mean for the conversation to end up this way. But he thought it would be good for the both of them if she dated the Gryffindor prat.

"Good night then."

He nodded his response and left.


	14. Lost

For the next week things were strained between Hermione and Draco. They seemed to be in some sort of rut since the night in the west wing tower. To make things worse the rumors were still going strong and the only Gryffindors that were still talking to Hermione were Ginny and Zack. Hermione was hoping things would start to look up soon but unfortunately for her things were about to get even worse.

One night Hermione was walking around the Forbidden Forest in order to get away from all the glares her fellow house mates were giving her. Regrettably, though Hermione was unaware, she hadn't entirely escaped the glares. Standing by a castle window a shadowed figured glared with hate as they watched Hermione walking slowly alone. However, the glare soon turned into a wicked smile when an idea came to Hermione's onlookers mind and they soon ran off in search for a friend to share in the idea.

Hermione had been out walking for almost an hour when she was surprised by a strong arm wrapping around her middle and a hand covering her mouth to muffle her scream. She tried to reach for her wand but her arms were trapped to her sides by her attacker; so instead she tried to free herself by thrashing around but the person who had grabbed her from behind wasn't alone. Soon she was being carried upside down with one person holding her arms and the other her ankles. The only thing she could see were her attacker's legs, nothing that would give away who they were. To her terror she was being dragged into the forest. Again she tried to struggle free but her attackers got smart and put a binding spell on her and levitated her between them. After a few minutes it seemed her captors wouldn't dare go any further into the forest because soon she found herself whizzing alone through the dark woods, branches scratching her bare skin. It seemed like a lifetime until she suddenly came to a stop and dropped hard to the ground. It took a minute for her to move, her body ached and she was stiff with fear. When she finally made to survey her surroundings she gasped at how dark it was. It was noon and the sun was still high in the sky; however in there the trees were so thick they blocked the sun out completely like some menacing blanket. Hermione fell down to her knees and let out a shaky scream through clenched teeth as she put her head down to the dry dirt and gripped onto her hair with both hands.

Tears started falling from her eyes as she started shaking. "Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God." She streamed out quickly before she let out another despairing cry. She was terrified. She knew what sort of creatures were out in the forest and she felt the fear grip at her heart. She tried to clam herself down and think rationally but the rational part of her brain was over powered by panic. She tried to think of who would do this to her. Maybe a vengeful student or an enemy, her mind quickly flashed to Voldemort but she quickly shook that off both too afraid to even think of it and dismissing it as irrational. She took deep calming breaths as she slowly stood back up. It was so silent in the forest it rang in her ears. She judged by how fast she was going and how long it took her to get there that she must be in the very heart of the forest. Suddenly she heard a small rustle of leaves and she ran as fast as she could in the direction she hoped was the way she came from. When she couldn't run anymore she walked. For hours she was franticly crashing through the forest and not once did she see a break in the forest. She finally collapsed against a tree. Her hands and knees were bloody from falling so many times; the darkness in the forest was so thick it seemed to swallow the light that came from the tip of her wand. She knew with the forest being so dark that her little beacon of light would stand out like a spot light to all the creatures hiding in the forest. She squeezed her eyes shut and took deep steady breathes as she counted to ten in her mind and then turned out the light coming from her wand. She was swallowed into the darkness and sat frozen with her wand held out in front of her with shaky hands, at the ready incase anything or anyone attacked her.

The next day the school was in a frenzy over the missing Hermione. Dumbledore at first thought she might be around the castle somewhere avoiding her classmates when his investigation made him aware of the hard time she had been having. But when the weekend ended and she didn't show up to any classes he sent a group of teachers through the school to search for her; it wouldn't be the first time a student had gotten lost in the castle. As the castle was searched it soon became obvious that she wasn't there. People started freaking out thinking that Voldemort had finally made his move to lead Harry into a trap. Dumbledore dismissed this theory finding it to be wanting. However, it didn't stop the whispers of the students.

Draco was pacing the halls on the seventh day of Hermione's absence when Harry and Ron confronted him with a hard shove. "Where is she?" Ron snapped.

"What?" Draco spat out.

"I thought it was weird that you were being all buddy-buddy with her. What are you planning?" Harry growled.

Draco's eyes widened when he realized what they were talking about. "I had nothing to do with-"

"Don't play dumb! Why else would you start being nice to her? I should have known it was something like this. But instead I believed the stupid rumors." Harry pushed Draco's shoulder. "You tricked her into trusting you so you could catch her off guard."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "I did nothing of the sort."

"Right," Ron said in disbelief.

"I didn't touch her! And don't bash on me because she chose to be my friend. She made the choice on her own." Draco snapped.

"Sure, tell yourself that. I'm sure it clears your guilty conscience," Ron sneered.

"If anyone should feel guilty it's you!" Draco's eyes darkened as he clenched his fist.

"What are you talking about?" Harry narrowed his eyes.

"What do you think I mean? For weeks you left her alone and stood by and watched her being bullied. You're supposed to be her friends but just because she talks to someone you don't like you abandon her completely. You know how petty and low that is?" Draco said as the anger in his voice grew. "Everyone around her hates her because of you guys. If you ask me I think it was one of your fans that got to her, trying to get revenge for you. This is your fault not mine!" Draco ran his hand through his hair and turned around and took one step before he quickly turned back to them. "You want to know the truth, the real reason why she decided to befriend me?" Neither Harry nor Ron spoke and he continued. "During our detention together something happened to me, and despite our history she decided to be kind to me and help me. She did all this for me with no other ulterior motive than to be kind. It took me awhile but I can now appreciate all the goodness she has because she's not like the rest of you bloody idiots and I can trust her. But you guys," He pointed at them and let out a harsh laugh. "her supposed best friends forgot all about her kindness and shunned her. You did all of this because she didn't go along with you on one thing. God forbid she have a mind of her own." Draco was pissed. How dare they think he did something to her when he's been so worried about her? He paced a couple of steps to calm down before he spoke again. "I didn't touch her and I didn't get someone else to touch her. I didn't do a God damn thing to her. So you can take your accusations and shove them up your ass!"

Harry and Ron briefly glanced at each other. "You're lying." Ron said. "You wouldn't tell us the truth if you did something to her."

But Harry wasn't so sure. He thought he detected sincerity in Malfoy's voice, but he couldn't tell for certain. "Let's go."

Ron looked at Harry in disbelief. "But he-," he pointed at Draco.

"Come on!" Harry said. Ron sighed and walked away with Harry.

Hermione had been out in the forest for nine days and luckily for her the only creatures she had ran into were a few devilish pixies and a troll. She escaped the pixies easily enough though the troll had proven to be more difficult though she did manage to walk away with only a nasty cut on her hip. Everyday she walked as much as she could before she collapsed; it was hard to walk any great distance when she only had berries and a few other plants to snack on. On the tenth day she found herself hiding behind a tree as she heard crashing sounds coming from the right of her. Her entire body was trembling and tears silently ran down her dirty cheeks as she tried to control her gasping breath. The noise crashed closer and closer to her and she stood frozen trying to stay as silent as she could but fear was over taking her as it had many other times out there. The noise halted and the world seemed to freeze as Hermione stood there. She could feel eyes on her and she prayed that what ever it was would just walk away. With a sudden crash the noise started up again but this time even faster as the creature ran towards her. Exhaustion, hunger, and fear proved to be too much for her and she passed out.

When Hermione woke she found herself being carried. She looked up and let out a small gasp as she saw she was with a centaur. She looked in front of her and saw the lights of the school. _Finally_ she thought to herself, finally she was back. The centaur soon burst through the doors and gently placed Hermione on the ground in front of the students leaving the Great Hall. Her rescuer quickly made his way to find Dumbledore. The students all stopped and stared with wide eyes at the beat up, exhausted Hermione.

Draco saw her and pushed his way through the crowd of students and rushed to her side. "Granger-," He whispered as he went to reach for her hand; but some one slapped it away. Draco glared as Zack crouched down beside Hermione.

"Don't touch her," he said as he scooped her up in his arms. He smirked down at Draco before he quickly made his way to the hospital wing, followed closely by Harry and Ron.

Draco resisted the urge to follow them as he became aware of Pansy, a long with many other students, watching him. He casually put his hands in his pockets and feigned indifference; but Pansy narrowed her eyes at him. She had noticed him rush to Granger's side and now she noticed him glance after her one last time before he quickly walked away.


	15. If Only

Zack gently placed Hermione on the hospital bed as Ginny, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore came rushing through the door.

"Professor, what happened to her?" Ginny turned to Dumbledore frantically.

"I'm afraid I don't know all the details. The centaur, Blaine, said he found her deep in the forbidden forest. She'd been trying to find her way back, but ended up getting more lost," the old Professor answered as he looked down at Hermione.

"She's lucky she came out alive Albus," McGonagall said as she stared down at her best student.

"Is she going to be alright?" Harry asked with concern.

"Yes, I believe she will be." Dumbledore let out a tired sigh. "However she has lost quiet a bit of weight and her body is very much worn down. She must be nourished and she must rest." He said the last part with a pointed look in his eyes telling them that they needed to leave. All but Zack moved to leave. "Come now." Dumbledore said gently as he put his hand on Zack's shoulder.

"I want to stay with her for a few minutes longer." He sat down next to the sleeping Hermione and grabbed her hand. "Please Professor."

"You have five minutes and not a minute longer."

"Yes sir." Zack looked at him with gratitude, before Dumbledore shut the door. "What happened to you?" Zack said to himself as he frowned down at her. He sat there watching her until his five minutes were up and he left.

It was well past midnight when Draco couldn't take it any longer. He threw his robes over his boxers and marched with determination to the hospital wing. He found Hermione alone lying very still in her bed. He slowly walked towards her and pulled a chair to her bedside. While examining her face he brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and frowned at all the scratches and bruises he saw on her exposed skin. Twenty minutes had passed when it was clear to Draco she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. He started to walk away when he heard Hermione whimper in her sleep as if she could tell he was leaving her and she was about to be left alone. Draco turned back and watched her for a second before he walked back over to her and sat back down. He sighed as he crossed his arms and leaned his head back against the chair. He sat that way for over an hour before he bolted upright as she started to wake. He watched as she opened her eyes and squinted at the lights. "Hermione?"

She looked up at him and smiled weakly. "You said my name." But her smile slowly faded and tears started to fill her eyes. "I can't believe I'm back. It was so horrible." She put her forearm across her eyes and started to cry.

Without thinking about it, Draco cupped one of her hands in both of his to comfort her. His eyes narrowed as he registered how thin her wrist was, "What did they do to you?"

Hermione let it all out, eager to share what happened so she was no longer alone with it. She told him how she was walking by the forbidden forest when she was attacked and sent flying through the forest until she landed in the heart of it. "I couldn't see my own hand in front of my face; it was so dark that it swallowed up all the light, and it was so silent that it hurt my ears. But when something did make a sound it would echo against the trees and the vibrations would seep into my bones." She shuttered in remembrance. "I was so scared I could hear my heart pounding against my ears. I thought I would never find my way out, that I would be stuck in the dark forever." She let out a trembling sigh. "I lost track of how long I was there. I didn't know when it was day or when it was night. It was always dark." She squinted up at the candles. "The light still burns my eyes" She was silent for awhile before she covered her eyes with her forearm again and continued. "The darkness gets to you." The hollowness in her voice worried Draco but he let her go on talking, it seemed to help. "When you're trapped in the dark for that long and you think you'll never get out your thoughts become clouded and dark." She let out a shaky sob and clutched her hair with both of her hands in despair. "I didn't even know I could think such horrible things." She started shaking as she remembered the feeling of being trapped in the darkness of her own mind.

Before he knew what he was doing, Draco brought her into his arms. He wanted to make her stop shaking, to forget about the darkness she was still lost in. "You're here now. You're safe." His eyes went black and his mind dark. "Who did this to you?"

She shook her head into his shoulder, "I didn't see their faces."

"Do you know how many there were?" He asked in a low voice.

"I know two grabbed me, but I don't know if there were others there." She started shaking again. "What if they try again? What if I end up back in that dreadful place? I couldn't do it again!"

Draco put his head on the top of her head, "I won't let that-"

"No, _I_ won't let that happen." Zack said in a strong voice. He thought Hermione would be up by now and he wanted to be the one to be with her when she woke up. He was surprised when he found her in Draco's arms. With long strides he walked over to the two of them and pushed Draco away from her. Draco stood up and with a stiff stance he clutched his fist, only holding back for Hermione's sake. Zack ignored him and crouched down in front of her as he grabbed her shaking hands. He looked into her eyes, "Nothing will happen to you Hermione. Not again. I promise you. Alright?" Not being in a stable mind or body she didn't quite register or feel the impact of what had just happened, she was too lost in her own pain. She nodded her head absentmindedly and then he enveloped her in his arms.

Draco clenched his teeth and glared at Zack. This was the second time that night that he had pushed him away from Hermione and instead took his place and it was really starting to piss him off. He didn't like how possessive Zack was with Hermione and he didn't like that he thought he could protect her better than he could. The last part surprised him a bit; he hadn't realized he had planned on protecting her until that moment. He took one last look at the two of them before he put his clenched fists in his pockets and walked out.

It was five days until Hermione was allowed to leave the hospital wing. The first thing she did when she was released was collect her work from her teachers. But, despite all her protesting, they excused her from all the work she had missed. When she started going to classes again, she was bombarded with questions about what it was like being captured by Voldemort. No matter how hard she tried to convince them that she wasn't with Voldemort, not everyone believed her. They thought that she was just keeping it hushed up, because the Dark Lord had threatened he, most of these students were Hufflepuffs. Despite every thing that happened she found all these rumors about Voldemort and other crazy theories about what happened to her amusing. They were better than people talking about her and Draco anyway.

Her first night back in the Gryffindor common room she was approached by Ron and Harry. They had visited her once a day while she was in the hospital; but only for a few brief minutes and never said anything more than 'how are you.' However, she was hardly ever alone. Ginny and Zack had visited her every day and Draco every night when everyone else was in bed; well every night until Zack came to push him out. But now that she was better Harry and Ron weren't going to hold themselves back.

"We told you he was bad news," Ron said as he sat across from her.

Hermione stared at him with a blank look. "Who are you-?"

"You should have listened to us. He was just trying to trick you. He didn't really want to be your mate." Ron interrupted her.

It was then that she realized who they were talking about. "You're wrong. It wasn't Draco." Since her first night back to the castle and he said her name she and Draco had been making an effort to call each other by their first names.

"How do you know? You said yourself you didn't see who did it. It could very well have been _Malfoy_." Harry emphasized the Malfoy not liking how she used his first name.

"I just know he wouldn't do that." She crossed her arms in defiance.

"See, that's what he wants you to think. That's why he acted like you guys were mates. So when he did this you wouldn't suspect him," Ron said.

"You're wrong. You didn't see him the night I came back. You weren't there when he came to see me."

"Hermione don't be daft," Ron said with anger. "Think about it. Why, after all these years, would Malfoy want to be your friend? You're just a mudblood to him." Ron stated.

Hermione flinched at the word, but shook it off. "I've already been through this many times with the both of you. I'm not going through it again. I trust him and that's that"

"He's got you brainwashed Hermione." Ron shook his head in disbelief. "He wanted to get rid of you. So he played nice so you would trust him and not suspect him."

"You have to admit that it is suspicious Hermione. Nothing like this has ever happened to you until you became his friend." Harry tried to reason.

She was starting to get really upset. "No, nothing like this has ever happened to me until _you _two got the whole school against me. Why would Draco want to get rid of me anyway? He's just a Hogwarts student, just like you and me."

Ron and Harry narrowed their eyes at her, they were now angry that she had put the blame on them. "He's probably just like his dad! He's probably a Deatheater!" Ron yelled at her.

Hermione bit her lip. If only they knew how much Draco hated his father and how he would do anything not to be like him they wouldn't be saying these things about him. Not for the first time she wished she could tell them everything she learned about the Malfoy's but she refused to break the promise she made to Draco. That would also break the trust he was starting to have in her and she didn't want that. "Just stop alright! You guys are jumping to conclusions. Do you even care that you might be wrongly accusing someone? Do you really want to be that person? I trust him and that should be enough for my _friends."_

"You know how twisted that sounds? No person in their right mind would trust him. He's done everything to show us that he can't be trusted." Harry spat.

"Can't you see what he's done? He's turned you against us!" Ron stood up.

Hermione stood up as well and looked him in the eyes. "Why on earth would he do that? What would be the point?"

"Because he hates us Hermione!" Harry stood now too.

"He'll use anything he can to hurt us," Ron added.

Hermione threw up her arms. "Will you two get over yourselves? Not everything is about the two of you! He's kind to me because it's me. Not because he needs to get at you guys. Is that so hard to believe, that someone would actually want to be my friend, not because I'm friends with _the _Harry Potter and his trusty sidekick but because they like me for me? That for once they want just me, not everything that comes with it! Why can't you just accept that?"

Ron and Harry didn't know what to say. Hermione had never gone off on them before. Not like this, anyways. Ron finally spoke, "So this is how it's going to be? You're going to be a stupid bloody wench and stand up for some evil Slytherin git."

"You're just pissed because for once I'm not going along with whatever you want. I do have a mind of my own and I'm sick of having to play follow the leader with you two all the time. This isn't about me picking sides_. You _guys picked for me. You guys can't even trust my judgment and you've known me for _six years. _Draco has only befriended me for a few weeks and he trusts me more then you do. How do you think that makes me feel? The two of you are supposed to be my best friends, and I understand that you're just looking out for me, but you need to trust me too."

"Well I guess that's it then," Harry said as he and Ron looked at her crossly.

She shook her head slowly and lifted her arms in defeat as tears started falling. "I guess so." She was so upset that they wouldn't even try to fight for their friendship. They could have made an effort to understand where she was coming from and look passed themselves, but they wouldn't even try. All she wanted was for them to _try _to trust her, but they wouldn't even do that.They continued to glare at her, so she shook her head in disbelief and walked away.


	16. Stress

As things always went at Hogwarts the whole school seemed to know about the fight Hermione had with Ron and Harry. And just like that her being attacked was forgotten and people were back to gossiping about her, Harry, Ron, and Draco. They were also back to shunning her; though they never really stopped they had only talked to her because they were overly curious about what happened to her.

Draco was sitting alone in the Slytherin common room. He was thinking about what Hermione had just told him about Harry and Ron blaming him for her attack. He was relieved that she didn't think it was him. He had spent every night since her return hanging out with the shadiest people he knew trying to find something out about her attackers. But if anyone knew anything they weren't talking. He was determined to find out who was behind it but he was running out of people to turn to. Draco's thoughts were interrupted as Blaise took a seat across from him. "How's Granger doing?"

Draco shrugged, "I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her. Every time we try to get together that Zack guy comes along. I swear it's like he's stalking her or something. But my guess is that she's not doing too great. Being out there really screwed with her head."

Blaise smirked. "It's not like you to easily back down so easily. I'm surprised that you let that guy push you around."

"Trust me I want to hurt that guy every time I see him." He sighed, "But she doesn't have many friends right now. No one but that git, mini Weasley, and myself will even talk to her. I think me getting into it with Italy well only make things worse for her. She needs as many people as she can get to be around her." Draco figured the more people around her the less likely she would get attacked again. If it meant she would have a better chance of being safe he would deal with Zack.

Blaise smiled. "Wow, it's really not like you to be so considerate of someone else." Draco ignored his comment and he changed the subject. "What does Granger say about Zack pushing you away?"

"I don't think she really notices it. Hermione knows we don't get along but I think she figures it's only a Gryffindor Slytherin thing." He shrugged

"But really it's a jealousy rivalry thing. He likes her and he's threatened by you." He smirked.

"I'm not his rival. If he wants her he can have her."

Blaise just shrugged and changed the subject. "So it's Hermione now? On a first name bases I see. I guess you two really are mates now." Draco went to speak but Blaise cut him off. "Don't even try to deny it." His expression went more serious as he continued. "I saw the way you were when she was missing. You tried to hide it but I can always tell when you're upset." Draco sat silently. "And I saw you sneak out every night. I know what you were doing."

Draco looked up at his friend in surprise; he didn't think anyone found out, he had been so careful. Every night she was gone he had snuck out of bed when know one else was awake and searched the castle and the grounds looking for any sign of her. "I was worried." He leaned back and rubbed his temples. "I don't remember when we became friends."

"Are you sure you're only friends? I mean I've never seen you show that much concern over anyone but your mother."

"I would have done the same thing if it was you who was missing. Don't read more into it than there is." Draco said coolly.

"Fair enough." Blaise said before he moved the conversation. "Have you heard anything from anyone about her attackers?" Draco looked at him in surprise again. "Don't give me that look I know everything you do."

"Stalker." Draco teased

Blaise laughed. "Nah I just know you well enough that I can tell when you're up to something. Plus I've been doing a little investigating on your behalf myself."

"Have you heard anything?" Draco asked eagerly.

He shook his head. "There's a lot of false rumors going around and a few of our shadier house mates have claimed they were the ones to do it." Draco straightened up but Blaise shook his head again. "After questioning and intimidating them, they all admitted to have made it up, just trying to look cool." Blaise rolled his eyes. "What about you, anything?"

"Nothing, like you I keep running into dead ends. It would help if I knew the reason why she was attacked. If I knew that I could narrow down my search."

"Any theories?"

"Yeah, I have two that are the most logical. She could have been attacked because of her falling out with Potter. A lot of people have been shunning her because Potter kicked her to the curb. She's even been bullied because of it; someone could have taken it too far. The next thing I thought made sense was because of the rumors that went around about the two of us. There are a lot of people who would be pissed if they really thought we were together. Girls could have attacked her out of jealousy, Slytherin guys thinking I'm going down the wrong path could have done something, or people who think she's a trader. It really could be anyone." Draco sighed in frustration.

"Might be a hopeless search."

"Yeah, I have a few more people I want to talk to though."

"And if nothing comes of it?"

"Then I guess I'll have to give it up. I don't know what else I can do."

"Short from locking her up in a cage so no one can get to her, nothing." Draco looked as if he was considering this. "I was joking!" Blaise laughed.

Draco just shrugged and they spent the rest of the time until dinner talking over possible leads.

When Draco and Blaise walked into the Great Hall for dinner, Draco's eyes automatically scanned the Gryffindor table for Hermione. He stopped walking when he didn't see her.

"Draco lets go." Blaise urged.

Draco tore his eyes away from the Gryffindor table and walked to his own table. As dinner progressed he hardly touched his food and kept looking over at the Gryffindors. But as dinner was coming to an end and Hermione still hadn't shown up he quickly stood up and left the Great Hall without answering any of Blaise's questions about where he was going. His heart was starting to pound and he broke out into a run. The only thing he could think about was her being taken again. He couldn't let that happened. He had promised not to let anything like that happen to her, especially since it might be his fault that she was being attacked. First he ran to the west wing tower where he had followed her once before, but when it was clear she wasn't there he cursed and ran for the library. Draco searched all of the rows until he finally found her seated at a secluded table in a dark corner.

Hermione had wanted to be alone. She knew it was time for dinner but she didn't dare go. She didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of trying to find people who would even let her sit with them and she didn't want to deal with everyone's glares and whispers. So instead she chose to hide in the library. She heard someone coming towards her and she looked up from her book to see a panting Draco glaring down at her. Hermione's eyes widened, "What's the matter?"

"Why the bloody hell weren't you at dinner?"

"I didn't feel like dealing with everyone." She examined him, "Draco what's happened?"

He collapsed in a chair across from her. "When you didn't show up I thought something happened to you again."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to worry you." She put her head down to hide the smile pulling at her lips. She was happy that he cared so much; it showed that they really were friends now.

"Well it's over now so don't worry about it." He looked at her and noted that she still looked a little too thin. "We should go down to the kitchen and get you something to eat."

"Alright let me just put my things away." Hermione moved to pack her things but stopped when she heard Draco let out a groan. She looked up and saw Zack taking a seat next to her.

He put a bundle of food in front of her and looked at her seriously. "You shouldn't have skipped dinner. I know Madam Pomfrey told you to keep up with all of your meals until you're back to your normal weight." He chided.

Hermione blushed and mumbled, "I was just about to go to the kitchen with Draco."

Zack eyed Draco and slightly sneered, "Really? How thoughtful of you Malfoy." He then turned back to Hermione and smiled. "No needed to walk all that way now." He pushed the food closer to her.

Just as she was opening the bundle the librarian, Irma Pince, let out a sharp gasp. She had come over to tell them to talk lower but now she was livid that someone dared to bring food near all her precious books. "Ms. Granger can you read?" She pointed to a sign that was posted every fifteen feet or so 'No Food OR Drinks In The Library.'

"I'm sorry ma'am." Hermione stuttered.

"I want you out of here this instant!" Hermione, with down cast eyes, quickly grabbed her things and left. When Draco and Zack went to follow her she stopped them. "Just a moment young men, I want the both of you to put these books away." She gestured to several stacks of books Hermione had taken out and placed on the table before she left.

Draco and Zack glared at each other before they each grabbed a stack of books. When Zack had finished, he grabbed the smaller stack, he stalked over to where Draco was and leaned against a bookcase. Draco ignored him and Zack silently watched him with a sneer on his face before he spoke up. "What were you doing with her?"

"That doesn't concern you," Draco answered, his voice going dark.

"You're wrong about that. It concerns me very much. I don't like you talking to her."

Draco shoved the last book into its place and turned to glare at him. "She seems to like it just fine." He took a step towards him. "You need to back off of her. You can't control who she talks to like you're trying to do."

Zack gave a mocking smile. "I'll do what I have to do to keep her away from you. Though I shouldn't have to; you, as a Malfoy, should no better than to stick to her."

Draco's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean by that?"

Zack just gave a sinister smile before he turned and left.

Draco watched him leave, fighting the urge to chase after him and beat the answer out of him. He knew he had to control himself for Hermione's sake, though at that moment he wasn't sure if she would be safer with or with out Zack around.


	17. You Owe Me

The next night when it was time for dinner Draco, once again, looked over to the Gryffindor table to make sure Hermione was there. When he didn't see her he started to get irritated, he had just warned her early that day that she had better go to dinner that night or else he would find her and drag her there. When he was about to go and do just that he saw her walk through the doors. He sat back down slowly and watched as she walked up to her house table. People started to whisper and scoot closer to their friends so she couldn't take a seat next to them. Draco saw that Hermione looked hurt and he was sure she was about to turn around and leave when suddenly she straightened her back, held her head up high, and walked towards an empty area at the end of the table. A couple of second years that were sitting close by started to whisper as soon as she sat down and Hermione glared at them until they picked up their plates and left. Draco smirked as he saw Hermione smile in satisfaction over her triumph. He lost his smirk as he began to feel sorry for her sitting all by herself while trying to ignore the people looking and whispering about her. He sneered when he noticed Zack standing up to walk over to her, but to his satisfaction the girls he had been sitting with start fussing until he gave in and sat back down.

Hermione was feeling very uncomfortable as she felt the harsh looks from her fellow house mates. But she was determined not to show any sign that she cared. So she sat with her back straight in determination and proceeded to dish herself food while never glancing at the other students. A few minutes passed and Hermione wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the tough girl facade. Just as she started to feel her mask slipping, she looked up and smiled gratefully as Ginny took the seat across from her. More people started to whisper as Ginny took her seat and she turned and glared at them with fire in her eyes. You could almost see Ginny's hair moving like flames as she transferred all of her anger to everyone who was staring. People quickly looked away and Ginny turned with a bright smile to Hermione and asked her how she was.

Hermione sat back a little and eyed Ginny. "You're quite scary you know that?" Ginny just smiled and shrugged. Hermione sighed and picked up her fork, "I'm fine Ginny, how are you?"

"I'm fine, but are you really alright?" She jerked her head in the direction of the other students.

Hermione shrugged one shoulder. "I wish they wouldn't whisper right in front of me and just talk behind my back like any decent prat would do. I hate knowing that as soon as I enter a room everyone starts talking about me."

"It's Harry and Ron's fault." Hermione just stared down at her plate and jabbed at her food so Ginny changed the subject. "Want to go to the library with me after dinner?"

"I can't. Draco and I are going to study for our potions test together. I need his notes for the days I was gone." Hermione explained.

"So you guys are even studying together now. I guess you really are friends huh?"

Hermione watched Ginny carefully as she nodded her head yes. She was trying to see how Ginny would react. A part of her was afraid she would be as disgusted with her as her brother and Harry were. She was relieved when she didn't notice any change in Ginny's expressions.

"Can I ask what changed between you two? I've been trying to stay out of it and just let you do what you want to do, but I'm curious." When Hermione bit her lip and didn't say anything Ginny went on. "You don't have to tell me, it's none of my business."

"No, I want to tell you. I'm just not sure how to start. There wasn't just one thing that happened that made us friends. It just happened slowly and I never meant for it to happen."

"But what triggered it?" Ginny asked. She had heard so many rumors about the two of them, none of them she believed of course, but it did make her wonder about what really happened.

"It was during the second night of our detention together. Draco and I were fighting and he got so mad that he unintentionally let slip something he really didn't want me to know." Ginny was about to open her mouth to ask what it was but Hermione cut her off. "I can't tell you what it is; I promised him I wouldn't say anything. I've been keeping that promise and I think because of that, along with a few other things, he's started to trust me. I guess our friendship started to grow from there."

Ginny watched Hermione for a second before she rushed forward. "Ok I can understand that, but Hermione I have to ask, are you sure you guys are really friends? He's not pulling anything is he?"

Hermione's eyes got a little sad at her friends doubt in her judgment but she went on. "Ginny if you only saw him the night I came back from the forest you wouldn't doubt that he truly is my friend."

Ginny leaned forward eagerly. "What did he do?"

"He was the first person I saw when I woke and unfortunately for him he had to deal with me unloading on him. I was still so scared and my emotions were so intense and raw but he stayed with me. He even tried to comfort me the best he could." Hermione lowered her voice as in case they had eavesdroppers. "He came to see me every night after everyone else went to bed."

Ginny gasped, "Did he really?"

Hermione nodded her head and smiled warmly as she remembered it. "Nights were still scary for me after being in the dark for so long in the forest. He knew this, so he would come every night and sit and talk with me until I fell asleep."

Ginny looked at Hermione in astonishment. "He really does care about you." She said a little breathlessly.

Hermione smiled in relief. "You have no idea how happy it makes me that you understand. Your brother and Harry wouldn't even try. They're so convinced that he's up to something that they won't even try to trust me."

Ginny nodded. "Yes they are too stubborn for their own good. If they really wanted to be good friends they wouldn't have thrown you to the side. Especially if they don't trust Malfoy and they think he's up to something. That should be more of a reason to keep you close so they can keep an eye on him and make sure you're safe. Boys can be so daft sometimes."

Hermione nodded her agreement and then a thought came to mind. "Is that what you're doing? Staying by my side to make sure Draco doesn't try anything?"

Ginny thought about this. "I won't lie and say that I totally trust Malfoy. However, I'm a firm believer in giving people a chance. If you think that he really isn't all that bad then I'm going to trust your judgment and give him a chance. Just know that if I sense that something's off about him I'm going to hurt him and tether you to my side." She warned seriously.

Hermione smiled warmly. "I can live with that."

"So where are you studying with Draco? I take it you guys can't just study together out in the open where everyone can see you."

"There's an old room at the top of the west wing tower. No one ever goes there and there are a few desks stored there that we can use." She explained.

"That's convenient, and secluded." Ginny watched Hermione carefully. "Do the two of you go there often?" She asked casually.

Hermione shrugged. "I suppose so."

"Hmm…" Ginny looked thoughtful.

"What?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Ginny shook her head slightly.

"Ginny, I know that look."

"It's nothing." Ginny dismissed and changed the subject. "What time are you meeting him?"

Hermione still had her eyes locked on Ginny before she sighed and gave up as she looked down at her watch. She quickly stood up, "I have to go now. I'm supposed to leave before him and everybody else, so no one suspects us of meeting up or sees where I'm going."

Ginny smiled, "How James Bond of you." Hermione stopped and raised her eyebrows in surprise at her friend's reference to something so muggle. Ginny shrugged, "When my dad got curious about muggle television that's what he made us all watch."

Hermione nodded in understanding and then quickly bid Ginny goodbye as she rushed out of the Great Hall.

Fifteen minutes later, Draco made his way to the west tower. He was careful to make sure none of his house mates saw which way he was going. But as Draco was walking he was sure he felt someone following him. He didn't turn around but he did slow his step and strained his ears to listen for any sounds. He went like that for several minutes when he was sure he heard footsteps and he quickly whipped around. He saw a tall shadow make a quick turn down a corridor and he quickly followed after it as he brought his wand out. Just as he reached the corridor he saw a glimpse of the person as they turned down another passage at the end of the hall. Zack, Draco was sure of it. Angry that Zack had sneakily trailed him he quickened his walk into a run. But when Draco turned down the passage he was greeted with an empty hallway. Draco cursed under his breath before he turned back the way he came. "Little creep," Draco exclaimed.

Ten minutes later he strolled into the west tower room just as Hermione lit the last gas lamp on a large office desk. She looked up and smiled broadly at him before she sat down on one of the chairs at the desk. Draco moved around the desk watching her carefully as she continued to smile while she took out her books.

"You really can't be that excited about studying for potions." Draco stated in disbelief as he sat down next to her.

Hermione looked back over at him, still smiling, "Oh I'm not smiling about that."

Draco raised an eyebrow and then leaned over seriously. "Have you gone mad?"

She laughed, "I'm perfectly sane thank you."

Draco leaned back and crossed his arms as he examined her. "Care to share why you're competing with Gilderoy Lockhart for the title of most ridicules smile?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm just in a really good mood, is that a crime?"

"Maybe." He eyed her apprehensively. "What's got you in such a good mood?" Hermione went on in a rush about Ginny and how she had accepted that Draco and she were friends and how understanding she was about everything. When she was finished Draco pulled his notebook closer to him, "I guess not all the Weasley's are total gits."

Hermione nodded in agreement and then they proceeded to study for their potions test.

On her way back from the library, Ginny was about to pass by the set of stairs that led up to the west wing tower but stopped when she noticed a group of first year Hufflepuffs. They were huddled in a group whispering and looking up the scarcely lit staircase. She knew she had to stop them from going. She could already imagine the rumors that would spread if Hermione was caught up there alone with Malfoy in the middle of the night. Ginny made her way over to them just as they started to move up the stairs.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ginny stood in front of them to block their way. "You boys don't want to go up there."

"Yes we do." A stocky blonde haired boy with a pinched mouth spoke up defiantly.

"No, trust me you don't. It's dark, and dusty, and umm it smells horrible." Ginny tried to dissuade them.

"We were told that's where Filch hides all the things he confiscates from students." A skinny boy with a mass of curly brown hair spoke up matter-of-factly.

"No, no he doesn't. It's just storage up there."

"Yeah right!" The group of them exclaimed in disbelief as they tried to push passed her, but she wouldn't budge.

"I'm telling the truth really. You don't want to go up there!" She tried desperately but she saw that they weren't buying it.

"She's right you really shouldn't go up there." Ginny looked up and saw Blaise Zabini strolling over to them with his hands in his pockets.

"You guys just want Filch's goods all to yourselves!" accused the pinched mouth boy.

"Who told you Filch kept things up there?" Asked Blaise suspiciously.

"We don't know who he was. We didn't really get to see his face." Piped up the curly haired boy.

"Who ever he was lied to you." Blaise stated and then an idea came to his head. "In fact he was playing a very cruel trick on you."

"What are you on about?" Asked the pinched mouth boy.

"Well you see it's a little known fact that the old west wing tower is actually the Bloody Baron's private quarters." The Hufflepuffs eyes widened. "The Bloody Baron will administer severe punishment to anyone that trespasses."

"She said it was a storage room." One of the boys pointed at Ginny.

"Well as he said not many people know that's where the Bloody Baron stays, and he likes it that way. I didn't want to tell you the truth when we are so close to his quarters and he might hear." Ginny said easily.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Pinch mouth asked.

"If you don't believe me go on ahead and take a few more steps up the stairs." Ginny moved aside.

The boy didn't move. He looked up the stairs with a scared look in his eyes but with the pressure of his friends he finally started moving. As the boy moved several steps up from Ginny, she hid her wand, so none of the boys would see, and uttered a spell under her breath. A gush of wind blew down the staircase making a howling sound that echoed off the walls. The boy let out a high pitched scream and he and all his friends bolted as fast as they could away from the west tower. Their plan had worked brilliantly; though just how brilliantly they wouldn't find out until the next day when the whole school hears about it and from that day on no one dared venture there, a great convenience to Draco and Hermione.

"Nice touch with the howling wind." Blaise smiled as he moved to stand closer to her.

Ginny smiled and slightly blushed. "It was your idea. If you hadn't come along when you did…"

"Our friends would have been screwed." Blaise finished for her. "They owe us big time."

"How should we make them pay?" Ginny asked with a smile as she sat down on the stairs.

Blaise sat down next to her. "In a way that humiliates them but entertains us at the same time." He joked.

Ginny laughed and Blaise gave her a charming smile. "I think we should be a little kinder to our friends."

"If we must." Blaise gave an exaggerated sigh and Ginny laughed again. "What did you have in mind?"

Ginny took a minute to think before she came up with an answer. "How about they treat us to butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks?"

Blaise thought about this. "Only problem with that is they can't be seen together by other students."

"That's why we sneak to Hogsmeade after classes one day when there's no students there. We can use one of the secret passageways."

"Secret passageways?" Ginny then proceeded to explain to him. Blaise smiled brightly, "If only I knew about these when I first came here" He took a few moments to imagine all the mischief he would have gotten into when he was younger. "I think it's a brilliant idea."

Ginny smiled, "Good, now the only thing left is to get the two of them to go along with it."

"That shouldn't be too hard."

The two of them continued to talk things over until they were finally interrupted by their two friends coming down the stairs. Hermione's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the two of them sitting together and talking civilly to each other with smiles. Blaise and Ginny stood up and moved so Hermione and Draco could walk the rest of the way down the stairs.

"Ginny," Hermione said slowly, "what are you guys doing here?"

"Nothing short of saving your asses." Blaise spoke up first.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked curiously as he briefly eyed his friend and Ginny.

Blaise told him how they had stopped a group of first years from going up the tower which prevented them from being discovered. "So as you can see you owe us."

Draco ignored him. "They said they didn't see the guy that told them Filch kept confiscated things up there?"

Blaise lost his smile, this worried him as well. It was obvious that someone knew Draco and Hermione were up there together and who ever it was wanted them to get caught. "It's shady right?"

"Sounds like something a little creep I know would do." Draco muttered to himself.

"What?" Blaise asked.

Draco snapped out of his pondering and glanced at Ginny and Hermione who were talking. "Nothing, I'll tell you later."

Blaise nodded in understanding. "Well anyway Ginny and I-"

"Ginny?" Draco was surprised that Blaise was being so familiar with the little Weasley.

"Yes Ginny and I," Blaise continued with a look at Draco, "have decided that you and Granger here are going to treat us to butterbeers at Hogsmeade." He then went on to explain their plan to sneak into Hogsmeade. Draco was about to say something but Blaise cut him off. "Don't you dare say no. if it wasn't for us you and Granger would be dealing with even more rumors than you already are. We're going, and you should be grateful that's all I'm making you do."

"Fantastic." Draco said with sarcasm as he and the others started to make their way to their beds.


	18. Preparation

Once Draco and Blaise walked into the Slytherin common room Draco swept the quiet room with determined eyes until he found an empty corner they could talk without the risk of their classmates over hearing. He made his way across the room and didn't bother to check if Blaise was following him because he knew that Blaise was just as resolute as he was to talk.

"You know who set those boys up." It wasn't a question but a statement. Blaise knew Draco well enough that he was able to read his body language pretty clearly.

"It was Italy." Draco answered in a low rumble as he stared into the fire before meeting Blaise's eyes.

Blaise sat back and examined his friend. "You're certain."

"On my way to the west tower someone was following me. I chased after him but he disappeared down one of the hallways, but before that I got a good look at him. He knew where I was meeting Hermione, and unless you or mini Weasley told someone then it had to be him."

"It makes sense." Blaise said thoughtfully. "The guy seems to have a lock down on you and Granger. Almost every time the two of you are together it doesn't take long for him to show up." Draco growled out an agreement. "We all know he likes her but he's really going out of his way. The guy has girls crawling after him left and right why go to so much trouble for a girl he hardly knows. I mean sure Granger's smart and she not bad to look at but she's nothing special, not someone that would invoke this kind of persistence." Draco gave him a sharp look and Blaise hid his smirk and continued without commenting. "It just doesn't feel right. How does he know when you guys are together unless he's some creepy stalker?"

"He has to be keeping close tabs on her." Draco agreed.

Blaise nodded his head absentmindedly and continued with his train of thought. "If no one other than Ginny, Zack, and I knew where you guys were than it had to be him that set the boys up to find you two. But sending the boys up there to find the both of you would only start more rumors and that would cause more pain for Granger. If Zack likes her so much why would he hurt her like that? You don't do that to someone you care about."

"You mean decent people don't do that to people they care about. He's playing games. If those kids came up and found Hermione and me alone in a secluded tower the rumors would be off the wall, they would think it was our secret love den or something. She acts tough but ever since Potter and Weasley dumped her, and everything else that followed, she's been hanging on by threads. If more rumors started and people actually had eyewitnesses to us being together she would probably fall apart, and Zack would be there to pick up the pieces since she'd probably want distance from me."

"I don't think she would want to stay away from you. She always seemed like the loyal to a fault type to me, and besides Ginny and Zack you are the only other friend she has." Draco just shrugged his shoulders and Blaise moved on. "So Zack's the manipulative type huh? Do you think Granger has noticed how he's always there when you two are together?"

"She's made little comments about how it's good that Zack is the one that always finds us and not someone else who would tell everyone. I don't think she's really thought about it though."

"Like I said, loyal to a fault," Blaise mumbled half to himself. "Have you thought about opening her eyes a little and pointing it out to her?"

"Even if she knew I don't know if it would make a difference. She knows that he likes her and if she realized he was following her around like a sad little puppy it would only make her feel bad that she can't return his feelings." He sounded very tired when he said all of this.

"So what's the plan then, ignore it and hope it all ends well?"

Draco sighed, "If I thought it would end well if I just ignored him than I would. But after tonight it's obvious that he's playing dirty. I can't take the chance that he'll do something like this again. If it gets back to my father that I'm hanging out with a mudblood it's not just me that's going to get hurt." He let out a frustrated gust of air, "But really what can I do about it? We've been really careful, we make sure we don't leave at the same time, we go places no one else ever goes, we've done just about everything I can think of to make sure people don't see us together. Yet that guy still finds us. The only other thing I can think of would be to just stop hanging out with her…" His voice trailed off and he leaned his head back against his chair and stared up at the ceiling.

"But it's too late for that isn't it?" Blaise asked in a quite voice. "She already means too much to you." Draco lifted his head and gave him a sharp look and Blaise laughed. "I mean as a friend. I'm the only person in the world you've ever talked to about your dad; it has to feel good to have someone else worrying about you."

Draco let out another sigh, "What else can I do?"

"You two are just going to have to be more careful. Since Zack always knows where the two of you are, you're going to have to pay more attention to where he is. First off I think during the week it would be best if the two of you only hang out at night after dinner and on the weekends only after lunch or dinner. That way you're in the same place, the Great Hall, as Zack is when you guys leave, if he never shows up than don't hangout that day. Also, since you're not going to say anything to Granger, it would be best if she always leaves first, that way you can see if Zack gets up and follows her. If he does than call off hanging out for the day or meet up with her and try to lose him. If he doesn't leave when she does it's best to assume that he's following you, and now that you know to look out for him, he won't be able to do that easily." Blaise gave a wry smile and continued. "It's going to be a pain in the ass but if her friendship means anything to you it'll be worth it."

"It's good advice Blaise, I'll give it a shot and see how it works out."

"Good." Blaise smiled as he stood up. "I'm off to bed; have to be up early tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Sunday." Draco stated.

"Yes but if we're ditching school on Monday I want to have the work already made up so the Professors won't be too pissed when I see them on Tuesday." Blaise paused and gave a wicked grin. "Don't tell me you forgot about our Hogsmeade trip?"

Draco groaned and Blaise laughed before they both headed up to bed.

By Monday the plan was set. During lunch the girls would leave the Great Hall early and head out to the Whomping Willow where they would wait for the boys. When the time came for the girls to leave Draco kept his eyes on Zack to make sure he didn't follow. Zack watched Hermione leave but relaxed into his seat when he noticed Ginny at her side. Draco smirked in satisfaction and he and Blaise waited fifteen minutes before they both stood up to leave. As they walked out of the Great Hall Blaise walked backwards and feigned an animated conversation with Draco so he could keep an eye on Zack. But just like when he noticed Ginny with Hermione, Zack relaxed when he noticed Blaise with Draco. He must have figured that Hermione and Draco wouldn't bring Ginny and Blaise with them if they were going to hang out.

When they met up with the girls Blaise smiled at Ginny and gestured toward the Whomping Willow. "So how exactly are we going to get to this secret passage way of yours? Because I don't know about you but I happen to like my limbs attached to my body."

Ginny's smile widened and she wordlessly looked at Hermione who walked over to a line of low bushes where she pulled out a very long branch that was hidden there.

Draco eyed the branch skeptically, "If you're planning on beating it to death I think you're going to need a bigger branch…preferably one on fire."

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed before she started to walk back towards the Whomping Willow. She stretched the branch out towards the tree and Draco reached out to stop her when he thought that she really was going to try to beat the tree. His hand stopped though when he saw the branch hit a naught on the trunk and the tree, which was swaying slowly, froze and an opening appeared. Hermione turned back around with a smug smile. "We have done this before you know."

"Right." Draco mumbled a little shocked as he watched her put the branch back in its hiding place.

Hermione and Ginny walked toward the tree with sure steps with Draco and Blaise following slowly behind. Hermione glanced over her shoulder at them and laughed at their hesitant pace. "Come on, you don't want to be standing there when the tree starts moving again." Both Draco's and Blaise's eyes widened and they pushed themselves and the girls into the opening while Hermione and Ginny laughed at them.

The trip didn't take as long as it usually did since Ginny and Hermione had to rush to keep up with Draco's and Blaise's hurried steps. When they entered the dusty old shack Hermione and Ginny had to sit down to catch their breath. As the girls sat the boys went over to a window and peered out, it took them about half a second to realize where they were.

"The Shrieking Shack," mumbled Draco.

At the same time Blaise said, "Bloody hell."

When they both turned back to look at the girls Hermione just shrugged her shoulders at them and Ginny smiled and said, "Surprise."

Hermione held down a laugh at the appalled look on Draco's face as he took inventory of the place. "Let's go than shall we?" She said as she and Ginny stood up and briskly walked to the door with Draco and Blaise fast on their heels.


	19. Hogsmeade

When they left the Shrieking Shack they were careful to exit out of the back door so the town's people wouldn't see them. They stumbled across the over grown yard until they reached the fence that closed off the property to the rest of the world. The fence was only five feet tall but the footing was shaky at best. Blaise was the first over and he did it with relative ease. He turned back to offer his hand to Ginny who was second to scramble over. Ginny hid the smile on her face as she took his hands and jumped down. She lost her footing and stumbled into Blaise. He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her and called to Draco without taking his eyes off of Ginny.

"Make sure you give Granger a hand over, it's an unsteady landing." He smiled down at Ginny.

Draco grumbled a little in response before he too climbed over the fence and landed smoothly on the other side. Hermione eyed the fence apprehensively. Every other time she entered the town she'd been with Harry and Ron and they were able to stroll out the front entrance with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak. With a sigh she slowly climbed over the fence. She was surprised on how wobbly it felt beneath her, the others had climbed over with quick steps that made it look easy. When she was straddling the top of the fence she carefully balanced herself with her arms as she swung her other leg over. She gave a sharp little gasp as she almost lost her balance. When the fence stopped wobbling and her heart stopped thudding she looked down at Draco who rolled his eyes and stretched his arms up to her. She leaned forward and placed both of her hands on his biceps and when he had his hands on her waist she pushed off the fence. Draco's footing slipped on the uneven gravel and he clutched Hermione closer to keep his balance. Once his legs were steady again Draco and Hermione turned to each other. Both of their eyes widened at the two inch proximity of the others face. It wasn't until Blaise cleared his throat that the shock was broken and Draco practically dropped Hermione back on her feet.

Ginny's eyes did a quick flash between Draco and Hermione as she spoke. "Right, well now that we're all over lets change shall we?"

They were all wearing regular day clothes under their school uniforms; that way they wouldn't look suspicious walking around school with regular clothes on and wouldn't risk getting reported by the town's people for ditching school. All but Draco took a few steps away from each other, even though they had clothes on underneath their school uniforms there was still something kind of intimate about pulling off your clothes. Draco probably wouldn't have cared even if he were stripping down to nothing, that's just how he was. Hermione was the first to undress and she bundled her clothes up and tossed them over the fence they just climbed over. She looked down and fiddled with her blue jeans and then her dark blue boat-neck t-shirt until she was sure her clothes were lying straight. When she looked up she froze with one hand still holding a corner of her shirt. Draco was pulling his school shirt over his head and the shirt he was wearing underneath was being pulled up with it. Her eyes scanned over the well defined muscles of his abdomen and she almost jumped when he pulled his shirt back down. She quickly looked away before he could catch her stare. She smiled when her eyes landed on Blaise who was watching Ginny as she was twitching her pleated skirt back and forth trying to get it straight. He looked almost mesmerized as the skirt swished back and forth across Ginny's long legs. Hermione lost her smile as she realized she probably just had the same look on her face.

As they walked out into the town they were pleased that no one gave them so much as a second glance. Ginny smiled triumphantly, "Where to first?"

"What do you mean where? The Three Broomsticks, we" Draco gestured between him and Hermione, "have to treat you two to butterbeers. That's why we're here isn't it?"

Ginny lost her smile and scowled at Draco. Blaise leaned in to "whisper" in her ear, though he spoke loud enough for Draco to hear. "Don't worry about him. He doesn't know how to have fun."

Draco ignored his friend's comment and stalked towards the Three Broomsticks and after a seconds pause the rest followed him.

They found a secluded table at the back and ordered four butterbeers. As they waited for their drinks Hermione looked around at the other patrons. She was relieved when she didn't recognize anyone.

When their drinks came Blaise took a large swallow and sighed with pleasure. With a smile he turned to Draco. "It tastes even better when someone else is buying." Draco just gave Blaise an even look before he turned to his own drink.

Draco was the first one done with his drink and he sat back and watched as the others talked and sipped their own drinks occasionally. He didn't bother to join in on the conversation and only gave short answers when anyone addressed him. To Hermione's surprise, when the bill finally came he snatched it out from under her fingers.

"I'm paying half." She stated. "We both have to treat them, that was the deal."

Draco only ignored her and paid the bill. As they walked out Ginny and Blaise were talking and laughing as they pulled a little bit ahead of Draco and Hermione. They were silent for a few steps before Hermione spoke. "You know I can afford two butterbeers, you didn't have to pay for all of us."

"I never said you couldn't" He said in a level tone.

Hermione wrinkled her brows and bit her lower lip as she turned her face towards the ground as they walked. Blaise and Ginny led them to Honeydukes next and they walked into the shop in silence. After Hermione browsed for a little bit she spotted Draco leaning against a wall looking bored. She stalked over to him and crossed her arms as she glared at him.

"What?" He demanded.

"What is your problem?" She asked heavily. "You hardly spoke a word at the Three Broomsticks and now you're just standing here looking as though you would rather be anywhere else but here."

"There's no problem." He said simple.

"You obviously don't want to be here." Hermione said a little deflated by his nonchalant attitude.

"If I didn't want to be here then I wouldn't be here." He said calmly.

Hermione lost her aggressive stance and moved to lean against the wall next to him. "You're not having a good time?" He just shrugged his shoulders. "You're usually more talkative when we're together, and with Blaise here I thought you'd be even more so." She paused for a second before she went on. "Is it Ginny? You don't like her?"

"She seems alright for a Weasley." He said with another shrug.

Hermione examined his face, "Then why are you being so antisocial?"

Draco thought about that for a minute before he answered. "I didn't realize how strange it would be." He glanced down at Hermione and saw that she wanted him to elaborate on that. He heaved a sigh and continued. "When ever we've been together it's always been just the two of us," His thoughts flashed on Zack, "for the most part anyway. Having you here with Blaise and me feels like I'm bringing my secret life into my real life."

"You don't want me that involved in your life?" Hermione half stated and half asked. She couldn't smother the disappointment in her voice.

"The more involved in my life you get the more I expect the ax to fall."

"The ax being your father?" Draco nodded. Hermione dropped her shoulders and looked away. She didn't know if she should feel hurt or if she should worry along with Draco. As her eyes traveled around the shop as she was trying to figure it out something came to her attention. She stood up straighter and scanned the crowed more avidly. "Draco?"

"Hmm?" He said absentmindedly.

"Do you see Ginny or Blaise?"

That pulled Draco out of his head and he too stood up straighter and scanned the shop. He pushed away from the wall and walked to the point in the store that would allow him to see beyond everything. "Their not here." He looked over at Hermione.

"I just saw them paying at the counter before I came over to you." She sounded a little worried.

They both left Honeydukes and scanned up and down the street. Neither of them spotted their friend.

"Damn." Draco exclaimed. "Where did they go?"

"You don't think anything happened to them do you?" Hermione asked the fear evident in her voice.

Draco paused in his search and looked down at her. "Ginny was with Blaise and Blaise can take care of himself. No one would be able to do anything to them with out a fight. And we would hear a fight if there was one." Draco gave her a kind smile. "Don't worry ok? I'm sure they just ditched us. Like you said I wasn't much company."

Hermione smiled a little. "Right."

"We'll search the stores. You go left and I'll go right, we'll meet back here when we're done."

"But-" Her protest was cut off as Draco briskly walked down the street. Hermione sighed and started walking down the left side of the rode. By the time she searched both sides of the street she was tired and on her way to being in a foul mood. She spotted Draco and shook her head to his raised eyebrows. "You think they've gone back?"

"Either that or we missed them while we searched." Draco shrugged. "Lets go back to school." He checked his watch. "If we leave now we can make it to our last class."

Hermione stopped walking and shook her head. "You go ahead if you want to."

Draco looked her up and down, not sure if she was upset or not. "You're not coming?" He asked slowly.

"No." She wasn't going to say anymore but when he kept looking at her expectantly she went on. "I think it's a waist that we planned this whole trip and we've done nothing but drink a butterbeer, spend a little time in Honeydukes, and the rest of the time looking for Ginny and Blaise. I never do anything like this. I never ditch class, and I won't do it again, at least not this year if I can help it. So I want to at least have a little fun. And if you don't want to then that's just fine." She wiped angrily at her eyes as tears started to spill over. She saw Draco's shocked face at her crying and she snapped at him. "I'm only crying because I'm so angry and disappointed! I can't help it, it just happens!" She felt the need to explain because she thought crying made her look weak and at that moment she wanted nothing more than to look sure and confident. But she always cries whenever she has some strong emotion in her.

Draco cleared his face of all emotion and watched her with steady eyes. "Do you want me to stay with you?" She shook her head no. "Why not?" He was a little surprised by her answer but he kept his face and voice blank.

"Because you don't want to be here." She stated, her voice and face were now just as calm and steady as his was. "You haven't enjoyed yourself at all."

He watched her with level eyes for a few moments. He was trying to decide if she really didn't want him here or if she just said that because she didn't want to annoy him or something. She started to shrink back a little from his steady gaze and that seemed to make up his mind for him. He grabbed her elbow and started hauling her down the street. She struggled against his grasp but in vain and he didn't answer any of her questions. When they stopped outside of Spintwitches sporting store Draco finally let her go and turned to her. "You can pick the next shop." He said briefly before he walked into the store.

Hermione stared after him with a shocked expression before a slow smile broke across her face and she followed in after him. She found him standing in front of a shelf containing various broom cleaning chemicals and kits. She nudged him lightly to let him know she was there and gave him a small smile before turning towards the display. "I got that one for Ron last Christmas," she pointed to one of the kits in a nice polished wooden box, "it's supposed to have everything you need and it comes with a little traveling kit you can carry with you."

Draco hid his satisfied smile at seeing her back to herself. "I don't need a whole kit I only ran out of a few things, not that I would buy anything Weasley had in his possession anyway." He said the last part a little under his breath.

"There's nothing wrong with that kit." Hermione stated a little defensively. She spent good money on that.

"You're right." He said simply. "But I don't want anything in common with either him or Potter…not even my socks." Right when Hermione was thinking how much he sounded like a rich snob he said, "There great prats aren't they? I don't want to be like them in any way, shape, or form."

His last statement was for her benefit and she couldn't help but smile. "Alright then what do you need? I'll help you look."

After a half hour of Draco browsing and Hermione asking him various questions about some of the lesser known wizard sports they were walking out of the store. "So where to?" Draco asked her casually.

"Zonko's Joke Shop?" Hermione suggested.

Draco was a little surprised by her suggestion. "Not Tomes and Scrolls.?"

Hermione looked at him sharply. "I do like other things besides books you know."

"Yes I do know that. But you like books more than you like most other things." Draco shrugged.

Hermione softened and started towards Zonko's. "True, but I want to go to Zonko's." She paused in thought. "We can go to Tomes and Scrolls later."

Draco smiled at her back as they walked across the street. "Alright."

When they entered the joke shop Hermione smiled at all the pleasant chaos of the place and headed toward a stack of sugar quills and other various items disguised as things you would find in a classroom or office. "Draco look."

Draco Turn towards her and was met with a face full of sparks that tickled his skin. He batted at them until they faded and gave Hermione a glare, which she didn't notice because of her laughter. "Real cute." He stated darkly before marching off to a different part of the store.

"Come now Draco I was only having a bit of fun. Don't get all broody and angry." She walked over to where he stood with his back towards her. She lost her smile when he didn't respond. "You're not really angry are you?" She went to place her hand lightly on his arm but when her fingers touched his skin an unpleasant shock went through her whole body, and she gasped. It hadn't hurt but it was extremely uncomfortable like licking a nine-volt battery.

Draco lifted his arms and twisted both of his wrists to show her the metal bracelets that were producing the current running across his skin that shocked her. When he turned to face her with a smile he stopped midway and stared for half a second before his deep rumbling laugh broke through the silence. Hermione's hair was extremely frizzy and her face looked small surrounded by it all. "It's just like old times!" Draco said between his laughter.

"Oh shut up." Hermione said as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at her hair.

"No! No! Leave it! It brings back old memories. All you need to do is enlarge your front teeth and it will be like we stepped back in time." He said before he started sniggering again.

Hermione just ignored him, and performed the spell she uses after every shower, and soon her hair was smooth again. When she was done and Draco said "awe" Hermione stomped away from him. She walked to a barrel full of bright red powder, scooped a little up, and tossed it into Draco's face. A very long, very thick, handle bar mustache grew quickly on his face. Hermione started to giggle but abruptly stopped when Draco threw the same powder at her face and a long curly brown beard grew under her chin and across her cheeks, which sent Draco into hysterics. Soon after war broke loose and the air was painted with all the different colored powders. By the time they were kicked out they were both sporting a tremendous amount of facial hair and Draco's nose was three times bigger than it normally was and Hermione's ears quite literally flapped in the wind. When they stopped running away from the angry store clerk they took time to laugh at each other again.

"Here." Hermione said, her voice thick from the laughter. She raised her wand to Draco's nose and shrank it back to size.

"Thanks." He smiled and turned his own wand to Hermione ears. They proceeded to fix each other until all that was left was Hermione's beard. "Sure you don't want to keep it?" Draco asked. Hermione gave him a leer and his laugh rumbled through his chest before he raised his wand and the beard vanished. Without thinking, Draco ran the back of his fingers lightly over Hermione's cheek. "Better?" He asked, his voice deep and low.

Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat and said "Yes," just loud enough for Draco to hear.

He seemed to realized what he was doing because he quickly stepped away from her and cleared his throat. "So Tomes and Scrolls?" He asked a little awkwardly.

Hermione nodded and Draco walked ahead of her in the direction, she assumed, was towards the bookstore. She had her hand hovering just over her cheek. The skin where his fingers brushed was tingling as if a fire was burning just below the surface. She was baffled that such slight contact could ignite such a reaction from her body. Hermione mentally shook herself and cleared her head before she followed Draco's brisk steps into the door of Tomes and Scrolls.

Forty minutes later they found them selves facing the back fence of the Shrieking Shack. Draco gave Hermione a boost up and told her to wait at the top until he climbed over himself. Once he was over he extended his arms up to her just like he had when they first climbed the fence. This time he got her down without losing his footing and carefully put her down on her own two feet. Hermione mumbled a thank you and started searching for her clothes. She found them quickly and made a mental note that Blaise and Ginny's clothes were gone. She pointed this out to Draco.

"So they went back then."

"I wonder why they left with out us." Hermione was determined to find Ginny as soon as they got back and ask her just that.

"Lets get back and find out." Draco stated, his voice echoing her own determination for answers.

They made the trip back to the Hogwarts quickly and without incident. When they reached the castle doors Draco told Hermione to go first and that he would follow in a few minutes.

Hermione hesitated at the door and looked back at Draco. She seemed to be deciding on something so he stood quietly and watched her. To his surprise, a few moments after she put her bag of books down and wrapped her arms around him. Before Draco could decide to return the hug or not she pulled away from him and picked her bag back up. "Thank you."

"For what?" He was wearing a mask again and both his face and voice gave away no emotions and stayed calm.

"For staying with me." She smiled warmly at him before she turned and walked into the castle.

Draco was surprised that it took him a second to catch his breath.


	20. The Mystery Guy

As soon as Hermione walked into the Gryffindor common room she scanned for Ginny. After a few seconds it was clear that she wasn't there, so she went straight up the stairs to the girl's fifth year dorm room. Again, there was no sign of Ginny and when she asked the only girl in the room the girl said she hadn't seen Ginny all day. Starting to get a little worried, Hermione quickly went back down the stairs. She was about to leave the common room again when a hand stopped her.

"Hermione, what happened to you today, I've been worried?"

Hermione turned around to face Zack's wide eyed stare. She gave a smile that didn't quite hide her guilt, "Sorry you were worried." She wasn't sure if she should tell Zack where she was or who she was with. He was her friend, but she knew he didn't think much of Draco. "I spent the day with Ginny."

"And Malfoy and Zabini." Zack said in a lowered voice.

Hermione's brows arched in surprised, "How-"

"They weren't in class all day either." He cut her off.

"If you knew then why did you ask?" Hermione bit her lip, she was worried that he sounded upset.

"I know who you were with I just don't know where."

Hermione glances away from him as she thought how to answer. When she did her gaze landed on Harry and Ron who were sitting by a window and were watching her suspiciously. She quickly turned her eyes back on Zack. "Look I'm real sorry that you were worried but everything's fine. We just went out for a bit of fun is all." He didn't say anything so she quickly said, "I would have invited you but I can tell that you and Draco don't get on."

"He's a bad influence." Zack snapped.

"What?" Hermione asked a little bewildered.

"School means a lot to you yet he has you ditching a full days worth of classes. That just doesn't seem like you Hermione."

"It wasn't even his idea, in fact he wanted to come back early so we could catch our last class. You shouldn't just assume things." Then after a second she smiled kindly at him, after all he was her friend and she knew that he was just worried about her. "I'm really sorry I worried you but can we talk later? I'm trying to find Ginny, have you seen her at all?"

"No," was Zack's brisk answer before he turned around and walked away from her.

She thought about following him so they could talk about whatever it was that was bothering him but she really wanted to find Ginny. Hermione sighed heavily and walked out of the common room.

Hermione didn't see Ginny until she walked into the Great Hall for dinner. She quickly walked over to her. "Ginny! I've been looking everywhere for you."

Ginny looked a little sheepish, "Sorry."

"What happened to you today?" Hermione asked in exasperation.

Ginny looked around at all the people sitting close to her and whispered to Hermione, "Later ok?" She glanced pointedly at the people who were obviously listening in.

Hermione gave a curt nod of agreement and found an empty seat at the end of the table.

Twenty minutes earlier, in the Slytherin common room, Draco found Blaise sitting by himself. Draco walked over and sat across from his friend and glared. Blaise just blinked back innocently, not saying a word. "Well." Draco demanded.

"Well what?" Blaise asked casually.

Draco sneered at him. "You know what. Where the hell did you go today?"

"Around." Blaise shrugged.

"We looked everywhere for you."

"You're mad?" Blaise asked a little surprised.

Draco lost some of his fire and leaned away from his friend. "Irritated," he stated.

Blaise gave a lazy smile, "Sorry about that, but it was your own damn fault." Blaise saw that Draco was about to get angry again and he held up his hands and rushed on. "I could tell you weren't comfortable hanging out with Granger and me at the same time. You were pretty much sulking the whole time."

"I was not sulking," Draco bit out.

"Brooding, whatever," Blaise waved his hand to indicate that that wasn't the point. "I thought we would all have a better time if we split off."

"You thought you would have a better time alone with the little Weasley?" Draco asked incredulously.

"I did have a good time with Ginny." Blaise shot back matter-of-factly.

"Did you..?" Draco trailed off cautiously, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

"What?" Blaise asked. Draco raised his brow suggestively. "No!" Blaise gave a short laugh. "No, it was nothing like that. We just walked around and talked. She's a real laugh." Blaise smiled when Draco wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Not that I wouldn't, she's quite a looker and I don't feel like killing my eardrums every time she talks."

Draco sat back and crossed his arms as he eyed his friend. "You're serious?" He asked after a minute.

Blaise lost his smile and shrugged his shoulders, "She's not what I expected. That is to say, she's nothing like her brother."

"I admit that she's nice to look at," Draco said awkwardly as he tried to justify his friend's interest in the Weasley girl. "She could make a nice conquest."

Blaise gave him a level look, "She's not dumb enough to be a one-night-stand and I have no intentions of trying for that. I hardly know her, but so far I like her." Blaise sighed as Draco looked disbelievingly at him. "Tell me, is that your goal for Granger? Make her another one of your conquest?"

"No," Draco said with a sigh, "I get it. I'm seeing through tainted eyes. In my defense I'm still getting used to the idea that mudbloods and mudblood lovers aren't trash."

"Good," Blaise smiled, "as long as you get it."

After Dinner Hermione followed Ginny to the west wing tower where they settled in to talk after they lit the candles and started a fire. While Ginny was scooting in closer to the fire to shake off the cold of the tower, Hermione was trying to think of what question to ask first. After a brief hesitation she decided to start where she did in the Great Hall. "What happened today Ginny?"

"We decided to go off on your own," she said matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Hermione asked, keeping the suspicion out of her voice.

Ginny sighed and looked Hermione in the eyes. "It was obvious Malfoy wasn't having a good time, even if Blaise hadn't pointed it out to me I could have seen it myself. He asked me if I wanted to ditch the two of you and have our own fun." Ginny shrugged one shoulder, "I said yes.

"That just doesn't sound like you. Why would you go off with a Slytherin boy you hardly know? It was just the other night that you two…" But Hermione trailed off as she saw the growing blush running across her friend's cheeks. "That night you two scared the boys off wasn't the first time you talked to him?" She asked bewildered.

"Well technically it was, but it wasn't the first time I noticed him." By the end of this sentence Ginny's voice had grown so small that Hermione had to lean forward to hear her.

Hermione sat back and examined her friend. "So you like him then?" Ginny nodded and looked away. Hermione inhaled sharply. "But I thought you liked someone else? That mystery guy you were watching run that morning. The guy…" Hermione shook her head in disbelief as she recalled that morning; there was something familiar about that figure now that she thought about it. "Zabini is the mystery guy you like?" When Ginny nodded her head shyly Hermione's mind went a little blank with shock. When she recovered herself again she asked, "How did this happen?"

Ginny hesitated at first but really she was anxious to share with her best friend. "It happened during the summer before school started. I was in Diagon Alley with my family shopping for school things when I first noticed Blaise…"

**Flashback **

Ginny was done with her shopping and was sitting down outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour eating an ice cream as she waited for the rest of her family. As she sat there, lesurely scanning the crowd, a family of four caught her eye. They were obviously muggle and it was obvious that it was their first time there. The parents were looking at a map and their oldest child, around 11, was holding the hand of an excited 4 or 5 year old girl. Ginny smiled to herself and was about to stand up to help the lost family when something happened. The little girl was knocked down and a very tall man was looking down at the girl in disgust as he was vigorously whipping at his side, where he had come in contacted with the little muggle child. Ginny recognized the beautiful woman standing at the man's side, it was Blaise Zabini's mother with her latest husband. The muggle couple took two angry steps toward the powerful wizard couple but stopped dead at the glare they were given. Zabini's mother and her husband then stepped right over the crying girl and kept going on their way.

Ginny was livid, and again she was about to walk over to the muggle family, this time to assure them that not all magical people were as horrid as the Zabini's, but stopped when she noticed Blaise Zabini for the first time. He had not followed his parents and was now walking over to the girl who was still crying on the ground. Ginny's body tensed up and she pulled out her wand. She marched forward a few paces than froze as she saw the younger Zabini bend down to help the child up. Ginny couldn't hear what he was saying but soon he had the little girl laughing and her parents smiling. Ginny was even more shocked as he jogged passed her into the ice cream store and emerged a few minutes later with two ice creams in his hands, each of which he handed to the little girl and her older brother.

Soon after that, Zabini left to catch up with his parents and the family was heading in the right direction with the help of Blaise. Ginny was shocked. She numbly went back to her chair and heavily sat down. Never in a million years did she think she would ever see a Slytherin helping muggles.

**End Flashback**

"…It was after that, that I knew he was different from other Slytherins." Ginny blushed, "I've been watching him ever since." After a minute passed and Hermione was still silent Ginny was starting to worry. "You must think I'm crazy…"

Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts and answered. "Of course not Ginny, I'm only surprised is all. I honestly thought that you were only going along with Draco and Zabini because you were trying to be a good friend to me. I never thought that you yourself would think that they could actually be ok people." Hermione smiled. "I'm the last person to judge you on this. I know from experience that not all Slytherins are what we always thought they were. I _am_ friends with Draco Malfoy, king of all Slytherins, you know."

Ginny smiled and flung herself at Hermione. "Oh thank you Hermione. I was so worried you would think I was mental. I know that you have gotten on the Slytherin bandwagon lately but you haven't got fantasies of snogging one of them." Hermione laughed and Ginny continued. "So you'll help me wont you?" She asked with big pleading eyes.

Hermione smiled nervously. "Sure Ginny, but I don't know what I can do to help. I hardly know Zabini."

"You might not know him but you do know his best friend."

"Draco is hardly the type to play match maker." Hermione protested.

"He doesn't have to do anything. Just get him to invite Blaise here," She gestured the room they were now in, "and you invite me. Tell him you want us all to hang out together since today's trip was ruined."

"He didn't have a good time today." Hermione said skeptically.

"Please Hermione, just try." Ginny begged.

"Alright I'll ask him." Ginny let out an excited squeal and flung herself on Hermione again. "I can't promise anything though."

Ginny gave a wicked smile as she still hugged Hermione, "If it's you I know he'll agree."

Hermione was less sure.


	21. A Moment of Fire

The following night Hermione found herself alone with Draco in the west wing tower. All day Ginny had been throwing her looks and sending her notes asking if she had asked Draco about getting herself, Blaise, Hermione, and Draco together again. But until now she hadn't had anytime alone with him. She glanced up and looked over at Draco. He was bent over his books taking notes, his face was set in concentration and his hair glowed in the light of the candles. Hermione bit her lip nervously and stared back down at her paper. She new Draco didn't have a good time when they all went to Hogsmeade together. She figured he wouldn't be too keen on the four of them getting together again, but she had promised Ginny that she would try.

So, taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat and waited. However, Draco didn't look up. "Umm Draco?" She said meekly. Draco glanced over at her and raised his eyebrows in question. Hermione looked down nervously at her hands. "Well umm, I know you didn't have much fun at Hogsmeade but Ginny and Blaise really did; and umm I was wondering what you would think about all of us getting together and doing something again?"

Draco sat up straight against his chair and crossed his arms over his chest and arched one of his eyebrows. Hermione looked away quickly and Draco couldn't help but smirk a little. "Why the sudden desire to get to know Blaise? You never showed much of an interest before."

"Well…" She didn't know what to say. It was true she had never expressed an interest to get to know Blaise and she didn't know how he would feel about Ginny being interested in him so she wasn't sure if she should tell him the truth.

"This wouldn't have to do with a young Weasley would it?" Hermione quickly looked up in surprised and Draco smiled at her deer caught in the head lights look. "Well I guess that answers that."

"How did you know?"

Draco shrugged his shoulder, "I know everything," he said mockingly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No really, how did you know?"

"After Hogsmeade, with them taking off together, it was kind of obvious."

Hermione just watched him, waiting for some sort of sign. He seemed very passive about the whole thing but she knew that could just be a mask. When nothing in his stance changed she sighed and sat back in her seat. "So what do you think then? Can the four of us do something together, maybe this weekend?"

Draco was silent for a minute and Hermione was sure he was going to just stand up and leave. However, Draco eventually shrugged and said, "I guess that wouldn't be too horrible."

Hermione was shocked. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well you didn't have any fun at all when we were at Hogsmeade."

"That's not true." He said quietly.

"Really? You weren't all broody and quite? Because I remember that's exactly how you were and I also remember you saying that you wanted to go back to the castle."

"At first that was true," he said in a low even voice. "But after that I had a good time with you."

Hermione blushed and she didn't know why. Maybe it was the rumble of his low voice or maybe it was the way he looked into her eyes when he said it, maybe it was because she… Hermione cleared her throat and nervously pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "That was after they left though. This time it would be the four of us together the whole time."

Draco looked at her curiously for a second, he caught her reaction to his words but he couldn't figure out why exactly she reacted that way, then he looked into the fire. "It'll be fine." Hermione was surprised at how accommodating he was being about all of this. Draco glanced back at her and read all that in her face and he let out a heavy sigh. "Look don't say anything to you little friend but Blaise might be interested in her. So I can deal with a couple awkward hours if it will help him out."

Hermione let a slow smile cross her lips. "You're a really good friend, you know that?"

"Don't get used to it." He smirked playfully.

"Right, wouldn't want it to go to my head." Hermione teased back with a grin.

Their playful mood slowly started to shift. They were smiling at each other with their eyes locked and then the mood in the room started to change and they both felt it. They both slowly lost their smiles but kept their eyes locked on each other. They didn't know what it was but something was building up between them, some kind of desperate heat in their bodies that neither one had ever felt before, and it was about to spill over. Right when they felt like something was about to happen the fire cracked and the trance was broken. They both looked away from the other and shifted slightly in their seats.

Draco was the first to speak, "Should we all get together Friday then?"

His question put her mind back in gear and she answered him in a voice that sounded both dazed and unsure. "Yes Friday is good."

"Did you girls have an idea of what you wanted to do exactly?"

"I thing Ginny was talking about just meeting up here." She gestured around the room.

"Time?"

"Not sure, I'll have to ask Ginny what she wants to do."

Draco nodded his head and started to gather his books. "Well it's late; I'm going to head out."

"Right." Hermione responded still in a half daze.

When she didn't make a move to gather her things Draco stopped at the door. "You should get going too. It's still not safe for you to be wandering the castle alone, not until we figure out who sent you out into the forest."

"I'll leave five minutes after you, like always."

Draco nodded in approval, "Good night then."

"Night." She responded a few seconds too late because he was already out the door.

And that was that. They were under an unspoken agreement not to mention that intense moment they had. That was ok with Hermione; she wouldn't have any idea what to say about it, she didn't even know what it was that had happened. Lying in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, she knew that wasn't entirely true. She had an idea of what it was that had past between them, it happened once before in Hogsmeade after they left the joke shop and Draco ran the back of his fingers across her cheek, it wasn't as intense as it was tonight but it was the same feeling. She had an idea but she refused to put a name to it. She knew the moment she did nothing would be the same. So she forced it to the back of her mind and wouldn't let her thoughts touch on it.

The next morning Hermione found Ginny waiting for her in the common room. "You're up early." She stated as she plopped down across from Ginny.

"Sodidyouaskhim?" Ginny blurted out.

"Ginny it's early; you're going to have to slow down."

"Did you ask him?" Ginny ask impatiently. Hermione smiled and nodded. Ginny waited and when Hermione didn't go on she said "And?" impatiently.

"And he said they'd see us on Friday, though you have to pick a time."

Ginny let out a squeal and bounced up and threw her arms around Hermione quickly before bouncing back up again. "Thank you so much! I have so much to do now."

"Do?"

"Well yes. I need to figure out what we are all going to do in the tower all night. It will definitely work against me if there is any awkward silences or if he gets bored."

Hermione just shook her head and laughed at her friend's slightly manic behavior.

Later that day, after classes, Hermione was in the library and spotted Zack at the end of the aisle of books she just turned into. She smiled at him as he spotted her as well and walked over to her. "Hey Zack, how are you?"

"Alright, you?"

"Fine." She smiled.

"I'm actually glad I ran into you. We haven't hung out in awhile."

"I know, I'm sorry about that."

"Well you can make it up to me by coming out with me and some of my mates Friday night." He smiled charmingly down at her. "We're going to have a little party in an empty class room, should be a good time."

"Sorry Zack but I can't"

Zack lost his smile. "Oh?"

"Yes, you see I already have plans for Friday night."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're just trying to get out of it?"

"No that's not it at all, I really do have plans."

But he ignored her words. "You seem to always be busy now a days. Is it because of the way I feel about you? Does it make you feel uncomfortable to be around me? Because you said we could still be friends and I would rather have you as a friend than not have you at all."

"Zack really, I'm not purposely avoiding you."

"Right." He didn't sound like he believed her at all.

"It's the truth. I still think of you as a friend and if it was up to me I would hang out with you on Friday but I just can't"

"You can't change your own plans? Is it something very important then?"

"Well it's not an emergency or anything like that." She said awkwardly.

He watched her as understanding came to his face. "You have plans with Malfoy then?"

"Well yes-"

Zack shook his head in disgust. "You seem to always be with him. I guess he out ranks the rest of us in your life huh?"

"It's not like that at all."

"Then ditch him. It's just one night. Come on Hermione it will be fun and it's been so long since we did anything together. We're still friends right?"

"Of course we are. You are one of the few people I'm still able to call a friend. There's no way I would just stop being your friend after you stuck by me despite what everyone else was saying about me. But I can't ditch out Friday night." Hermione felt like she had to explain to him because it was obvious to her that she had really hurt his feelings. "It's not really for me that I'm going out or else I would go with you. A friend of mine likes a friend of Draco's and we're giving them a chance to get to know each other." Zack smiled tightly and said he understood. "How about we do something on Saturday, all day if you want to?"

Zack smiled down at her, "It's a date."

"Good. Then I'll talk to you later and we'll make plans ok?'

"Alright." His smile warmed. They said their goodbyes and as soon as Hermione turned her back he quickly lost the smile and scowled darkly after her. He had to do something. He could tell she was getting closer to Malfoy and he had to put a stop to that.


	22. You're to Blame

In the common room, after dinner, Draco approached Blaise who was sitting alone by the fire reading a book. Blaise looked up from the pages as Draco sat across from him. "What's up mate?" He asked as he marked off his page and closed his book.

"Have any plans Friday night?"

"Not at the moment, no. Why? Did you want to do something?" Draco then proceeded to tell Blaise about meeting up with Hermione and Ginny in the west wing tower. When he finished Blaise gave a small smile. "I know this isn't your idea, was it Grangers?"

Draco shook his head. "No, I believe it's the young Weasley's idea." Blaise's smile widened a little and Draco rolled his eyes. "I take it that you want to go then?"

Blaise casually shrugged a shoulder, "Nothing else going on that night, should be fun."

"Right." Draco said, skeptically at his friend's casual tone.

Blaise just smiled and opened his book back up. Draco examined him for a second before he gave up and started to scan the room. His attention was caught by a large group of boys in his year. It was a little odd to see such a large group of Slytherin boys together. As a general rule Slytherins didn't hang out in large groups, it always ended in some kind of fight. But this group was laughing at something one of the boys, Theodore Nott who was the obvious center of the group, was saying. As he was watching them Goyle caught his eye and Draco made a come here gesture that Goyle obediently followed. When Goyle was standing in front of him Draco made a gesture towards the group, "What's going on over there?"

Goyle gave a ghoulish grin, "Theodore is telling us about Millicent tryin' to get in his trousers. She was quite desperate." Goyle gave a loud laugh, "You should hear the things she was saying and doing to try and convince him to spend a night with her." He then proceeded to tell him exactly what those things were but Draco lost interest as soon as he heard what it was they were talking about and he started look over to Blaise again when something Goyle said caught his attention and he whipped his head back up to him. "…Granger. Can you believe that? But of course –"

"Wait. What about Granger?" Draco asked, his eyes locked on Goyle with intense interest.

"Well remember last month when the mudblood went missing?" Goyle didn't wait for Draco to answer. Granger's disappearance was still a hot topic for the Slytherins who all wanted to know who it was so they could congratulate them and share in their glory. "Millicent claims to know who it was who did it and she offered to tell Nott who it was if he would spend the night with her. But even though Nott really wants to know there's no way he could stomach that…"

But Draco was no longer paying attention. He had his eyes locked with Blaise who had listened in as well. Finally Draco caught off Goyle mid-sentence. "Where's Millicent now?"

"Nott said she's been hiding out in the library, she's too embarrassed to be around Nott after being turned down." Goyle laughed.

"Thanks Goyle, you can go now."

Goyle smiled proudly and walked back over to the crowed of boys. Draco stood up and Blaise followed suit. "What are you going to do?" Blaise asked.

"I'm going to find Bulstrode and find out what she knows."

"I'll come with you." Blaise was a bit worried about how far Draco would go to get the information out of Millicent. But Draco hardly heard him and left the common room with blind ambition.

When Draco entered the library he quickly made his way down the many aisles searching for Millicent. He finally found her sitting at one of the back tables, she was painting her nails with color changing nail polish and drinking out of a suspicious looking bottle. She glanced up as Draco and Blaise pulled out chairs and sat down. She stared wide eyed at the both of them, shocked at the charming smile Draco was giving her.

"How are you Millicent?" Draco asked warmly. Blaise glanced quickly at his friend; he was surprised that he was going with charm instead of threats.

"F-fine, I mean why?" She sputtered out nervously. Draco and Blaise were one of the two most popular guys at school, not just in Slytherin, and they had never really socialized with her.

Draco got a sympathetic look on his face, "We heard what happened between you and Nott."

Millicent blushed deeply, "How did you hear that?"

"He's telling the whole house as we speak." Blaise told her as he shook his head as if to say he couldn't believe what a jerk the guy was.

Millicent's red cheeks turned purple in her embarrassment and rage. "Well whatever he's saying it's a lie."

"Of course it is." Draco nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I figured he was just angry with you for not telling him what you know."

"What I know?" Millicent asked blankly.

"You know, about what happened to Granger." Blaise said in a low voice.

Understanding lit Millicent's face and she blundered on, "Of course that's why he's saying all of those things. He's just trying to get back at me because I wouldn't tell him. As if I would want to sleep with a prat like Nott."

"Right, you could do much better." Blaise said with a wink and Millicent blushed.

"That's right." Draco agreed. "You know you should come to one of my parent's balls this summer. You'd be sure to meet a good man, someone with looks, pure blood, old family, and wealth."

Millicent looked at him with starry eyes. "But my family's never been invited to one of your family's balls."

Draco pretended to look ashamed. "I'm afraid that's my doing. You see I never felt like you could be trusted. I always felt like you had a lot of secrets. Like this whole Granger things for example."

"But I don't have a lot of secrets! I only have the one and I would have told people about it but I promised a friend that I wouldn't."

Blaise and Draco looked at each other and Draco gave a sigh and Blaise shook his head sadly. "The people I invite must be in my confidence, otherwise how could I possible trust them in my house?" He said to Millicent. He then stood up, "Well I guess you could always find a good man at Hogwarts, there's always other houses you could check."

"No wait! I'll tell you, I'll tell you!" Millicent said in a panic as she grabbed onto Draco's sleeve. Draco raised an eyebrow and sat back down. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"Are you suggesting that I'm a snitch?"

"Of course not!" Millicent said frantically. She then leaned forward and proceeded in a hushed voice. "One night last month Pansy came to me and asked me to meet her in one of the dungeon classrooms after dinner. So I did, and she came with Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass. She then told us of an idea she had about getting rid of Potter's mudblood. She told us about sneaking up on her and sending her off into the forbidden forest. We all thought it was a good idea, so Pansy said she'd come to us when she found the right opportunity to do it. A couple nights later she contacted us and we all met up, well all of us except Tracy, she chickened out. Anyway we put masks on and took off our house colors and then snuck up on her." Pansy shrugged her shoulders, "and you know the rest." Millicent gave Draco what he thought was her idea of a flirty smile. "Brilliant wasn't it?"

Draco just stared at her, Blaise could tell he was itching to pull his wand out so he jumped in and put his hand over Millicent's who blushed. "It was genius." He gave her his sexiest smile. "Now if you'll excuse us we have somewhere to be."

Millicent smiled dazedly but something came to her mind and she called out, "What about the ball?"

When Draco didn't answer Blaise elbowed him in the side, "I'll be sure to send you an invitation." Draco answered in a semi friendly tone before he quickly turned and walked out of the library.

Blaise had to almost jog to keep up with him. "Hey stop for a second." Blaise exclaimed and put a hand on Draco's shoulder to stop him. Draco yanked his shoulder away from Blaise's touch and started to walk again. Blaise grabbed his arm this time, "Hey get a hold of your self and talk to me!"

"What?" Draco rumbled out.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find Pansy."

Blaise waited but Draco didn't elaborate. "And do what?"

"Make sure she doesn't try anything like that again." Blaise gave him a concerned look and Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, I wont hurt her."

Blaise knew Draco would never hurt a girl but you don't have to hurt someone to ruin them. However, there was nothing he could do and like Draco he agreed that something had to be done to make sure Pansy didn't try anything like that again, Granger could have died. So Blaise put his hands in his pockets and let Draco go off by himself.

When Draco entered the common room he saw Pansy talking with a few of her friends. He decided it would be best if he waited until he caught her alone. It wasn't until lunch the next day that Draco got his chance. Pansy was running late for lunch and she was walking down a passageway by herself when she was pulled into an empty classroom. "Hey!" Pansy yelled and pushed at the person who grabbed her. When she realized it was Draco she said "Oh it's you," and straightened her robes. She smiled seductively at him and rested her hand on his chest. "If you wanted to be alone with me all you had to do was ask."

Draco swept her hand off of him and took several steps away from her. "I heard it was you that sent Granger into the forest."

Pansy lost her smile and put one hand on her hip and used the other to flip her hair. "Oh that."

"That's really all you have to say?" Draco's voice lowered an octave.

"What's it to you anyway? Oh yes that's right she your very own mudblood girlfriend. Tell me Draco what's it like to slum it? I never tried it myself."

Draco didn't let her get a rise out him and said in a level voice, "She's not my girlfriend."

Pansy looked a little hopeful and took a step closer to him, "Really? So it's true that you're only shacking up with her then?"

"I'm not talking about this with you." She kept moving closer to him and he stepped away. "And I'm not sleeping with you."

Pansy lost the smirk that was forming on her face. "Then why are you here Draco, to confront me about sending Granger into the forest? Why do you care?"

"You could have killed her Pansy."

"Yes, it's too bad about that isn't it? I was so close." She said in a snide voice. Draco's eye's darkened. "What!" Pansy snapped. "It really shouldn't matter to you Draco! What would your farther do if he knew you were here right now all upset that a mudblood _didn't _die?"

"What would Dumbledore do if he knew that you tried to kill a student?" Draco retorted.

"Are you threatening me right now?"

Draco shrugged, "I'm just putting it in perspective for you."

Pansy gave him a leveled look and they both stood in silence for a few seconds. Finally Pansy gave a little moan of frustration, "Fine what do you want?"

"I want you to never do anything like that again."

Pansy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Draco gave her a dark look and she put her hands up in surrender. "Fine, never again." Draco looked satisfied and it only angered Pansy more. "You're lucky I don't tell your father about your new pet mudblood."

"You would really do that to me?" Pansy looked away. "You know what my father would do if he thought I was changing sides don't you? He would do the same thing to me as he would do to anyone else he considered a trader. You want that to happen to me?"

Pansy sighed, "Of course not." She said warmly. "I just don't understand what's happened to you." Her eyes filled with concern and she took a step closer to him. "Why must you be kind to her? Why degrade yourself?"

Draco let out a gust of air in exasperation. "It's not a big deal Pansy, and again I'm not talking about this with you."

Pansy took a few more steps closer to him until she was standing right before him. She lifted up her hand and grabbed onto the opening of his robes with her thumb and forefinger and ran her hand all the way down to his waist, the material sliding between her fingers. "You used to come to me about everything you know." She looked up from her hand into his eyes, her own eyes wide and warm. "I miss that," she whispered and pressed herself into his body.

Draco closed his eyes as he felt her ample chest pressing into his own. It was always like this with them, fighting and sex. Right about now he would have grabbed her and pressed himself harder against her, but it was different now, he was different now. He opened his eyes and grabbed on to her hands, which were currently tugging at his waistband, and put distance between their bodies.

"I'm not asking for anything," Pansy purred out, "just sex. No strings, no commitments. We might have had problems with our relationship, but the sex was always good."

"And we would still be having sex if you hadn't betrayed me. You made me look like a fool."

Pansy lost her seductive attitude and pulled away from him. "Well what did you expect to happen? You were ignoring me. You never took me out on dates, never did anything romantic. So when someone came along and showed me how much they wanted me I couldn't help myself. There are many men that would do just about anything to have me yet you did nothing."

"Don't try to blame me. If you had a problem you should have come to talk to me about it. But that wasn't really the problem Pansy, no, you just love being wanted. You love having guys drool after you, so you would seduce them for the thrill of it."

"How dare-"

"Enough. I'm glad we finally talked about it but it's over and I won't talk about it again."

"Fine I get it; we won't be getting back together. What I don't understand is why we can't have sex? It's just sex! We can sleep together and both walk away with nothing but satisfaction."

"It's not going to happen Pansy."

Pansy gave a huff and stormed out of the room and Draco leaned against the wall exasperated. He had to admit to himself that Pansy was hard to turn down. She was right, they always had a great sex life and it had been several months since Draco slept with anyone. He had to acknowledge that he had changed, because the old him would of used Pansy for sex, just like she wanted, and not cared at all. Now, however, he just couldn't do it.

As Pansy was storming down the hall she was again caught by surprise by someone pulling her aside. "God! What is it with people today!" She exclaimed as she turned to confront yet another person. She was surprised into silence, however, as she saw that it was Zack who had pulled her aside.

"Sorry about this." He smiled at her. "But I didn't think you would talk to me alone if I asked."

"So you thought you would just yank me into an empty class?" Pansy growled at him. Zack just shrugged and smiled charmingly at her. "Well what is it you want?" Pansy asked impatiently before it dawned on her that he might be here for the same reason Draco confronted her for. Who ever told Draco might have told Zack as well and she knew that he was hot for Granger. She took a quick step away from the Gryffindor.

"I have a proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?" Pansy asked cautiously.

"A way to get what we both want."

"Which is…?"

"You want Malfoy, and I want Granger."

Pansy looked at him, intrigued. "I didn't take you for the type."

Zack kept on his charming smile, looking every bit the reliable Gryffindor, "I want what I want, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it."

"Hmm… I like that in a man." Pansy flirted up at him.

"Is that right?" Zack drawled out as he reached a hand out and ran his fingers through her hair.

They both moved closer to each other. "Uh-huh." Pansy said, her face only inches from his. When their lips were about to touch Pansy pulled away. "I want to hear more about this plan. How are you going to break them away from each other?"

"By making Draco desperate." He stated. "They have plans tomorrow night and I know where they'll be."

"And?"

"And what if some of your house mates just happen to come upon them?" Pansy smiled as understanding came to her. "You'll get them their and the rest will happen naturally. So far the Slytherins have dismissed the rumors about the two of them as false and that Malfoy is just sleeping with Hermione. But if they see them in the right situation they'll get a different idea."

"And they'll want to tell Draco's dad about it."

Zack smiled and nodded, "Of course Malfoy would have to do anything he could to stop that from happening, not only for himself but for Hermione as well. So he'll probably distance himself from her and try to do everything he can to make it look like nothing is going on between them."

"Like being seen with another girl." Pansy smiled.

"That's where you come in and offer to help him out."

Pansy wrapped her arms around Zack's neck. "You're brilliant"

"Agreed." Zack purred out before he pulled Pansy against him and brought his lips down to hers. Apparently he had no qualms about having casual sex.


	23. Thrown to the Wolves

When Friday night came along Hermione found herself looking around the room at the top of the west wing tower in awe. Ginny gave the usually grummy room a new charm. There were hundreds of candles hovering above their heads, the old dusty desks were replaced with plush couches and chairs, there was a card table set up by the fireplace, and a radio on the wide windowsill.

"Ginny, it looks great."

"You think so?" Ginny looked around nervously. "You don't think I went overboard?"

"No, it's lovely." Hermione assured her.

Ginny gave a relieved smile. "What time is it?"

Hermione glanced at her watch. "Half past nine."

Ginny started to flutter around the room twitching at cushions, "They'll be here any minute."

And just on cue Blaise and Draco walked into the room. Blaise gave a low whistle and grinned over at Ginny. "Looks good."

Ginny gave a nervous smile, "It's a little much." She pointed up at the candles. "But there was only so much I could do with this dusty old room."

"Nah it looks good." Blaise assured her.

Draco just glanced around the room and looked over at Hermione with raised eyebrows. Hermione just shrugged her shoulders at him.

They all stood around a little awkwardly for a few moments, looking off to the sides, until Blaise started laughing at their discomfort. It broke the ice and the others grinned sheepishly and Ginny smiled appreciatively at Blaise who winked at her before walking over to the radio and turning on his favorite station.

They spent the next hour talking until Ginny started to grow frustrated. She pulled Hermione to a corner and whispered to her in desperation. "Can't you do something about Malfoy? He's totally hogging Blaise; I haven't had a chance to talk with him at all."

Hermione glanced over at Draco and Blaise as they both laughed together then looked back at Ginny. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. They enjoy each others company."

"All you have to do is distract him long enough for me to approach Blaise."

"And how am I supposed to do that Ginny?" Hermione asked her friend with crossed arms.

"Please Hermione, could you just think of something?" Ginny's wide pleading eyes bore into Hermione's before Hermione let out a sigh. Ginny bounced a few times and gave Hermione a quick hug.

Hermione walked slowly towards the boys trying to rack her brain for ideas while Ginny followed closely on her heals. When she approached them Draco was laughing at something Blaise had said and Hermione couldn't help but smile at the sound of his deep rumbling laugh. Draco noticed her presence and raised his eyebrow questioningly at her.

"Can I talk to you over here for a moment?" She gestured to the far corner of the room.

Draco pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against and followed her. "So what do you want?"

"Nothing." She jerked her head over to where he was just standing.

Draco looked to see Blaise laughing at something Ginny was saying to him. "Oh." He said when he turned back to her.

Hermione shrugged. "She wanted to have a chance to talk with him." Draco wrinkled his noise. Hermione crossed her arms. "What's that look for?"

"Every time I look at her all I see is her brother."

"She's not Ron."

"Yeah ok."

"She's not." She said flatly while giving him a leveled look.

He raised his hands up in surrender. "I get it, she's not him."

Draco slumped down on the couch and Hermione followed suit. She watched him for a second before speaking up. "You're different around him."

"How so?"

Hermione looked down at her hands. "You always seem to have your guard up. But with him it's like you let your walls down and you seem so…I don't know, free I guess." She looked back up into his eyes. "It's nice to see you like that."

Draco opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Blaise and Ginny approaching. "We're going to snag some things from the kitchen. You two want anything?"

"Something to drink?" Hermione answered.

Blaise said sure and looked over to Draco who said "Same."

"Alright then we'll be back in a few." He gestured to Ginny who gave Hermione a quick smile before following him out the door.

"They seem to be hitting it off." Draco said with a little bitterness in his voice.

"Do you not like the idea of them becoming close?"

He let out a sigh. "I don't know. It's just hard to think of them as…close."

"Because she's Ron's sister?"

"Because she's not the kind of person we socialize with."

"Neither am I."

Draco looked over at her and gave a little smile. "Yeah I know. Old habits." He shrugged.

"I'd think you'd be over it by now. What with me and you spending so much time together."

"I don't really think of you that way anymore."

"What way."

"Our kind or not our kind. You're just Hermione to me now."

"But you still think of everyone else in those terms? Pure bloods and rich, mudbloods and mudblood sympathizers?" Hermione's voice was growing more and more agitated.

"Not mudblood, just not like us." Hermione stood up angrily and Draco followed. "What did you expect Hermione? For everything I ever believed in to change over night?"

"No…Yes…I don't know!" She said in frustration while pacing a little.

"It's not that easy." Draco said sharply. "I don't understand why you're so upset."

Hermione stopped pacing and faced him. "I'm upset because I thought you changed. But instead it's like I'm the only exception and everyone else like me is still scum. That's not changing."

"Give me some credit here Hermione I am changing. I agreed to hang out with the little Weasley tonight didn't I? But you can't expect me to pull a complete one eighty over night. All of this stuff is programmed into me and it's hard getting away from that way of thinking. I'm trying here Hermione and it's unfair for you to expect so much in only a few months when I've spent my whole life believing in the things I do. I thought you understood that."

Hermione took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "I'm sorry, I do understand. I'm just…" She shook her head and sat back down on the couch with out finishing her sentence.

Draco squatted in front of her. "Just what?" She shook her head again and looked away. "Tell me."

She looked back into his eyes and after a second she turned her eyes down. "Knowing that your prejudice is still so much a part of you…I'm just scared that nothings going to change your way of thinking and you'll back slide into what you used to be and I'll lose you…lose you as a friend I mean." To Hermione's dismay her eyes started to fill with tears. She quickly turned her head away from Draco. "I just couldn't stand it if I lost you too."

Draco tentatively moved his hand up to her cheek where he turned her head to face him again. He was surprised that she was crying, "Hermione," He said softly. "Hermione look at me." He grabbed her hands, which were balled together in tense fists, with one of his. "I promise that-"

The door crashed open and they both looked up to see a small group of Slytherins staring at them. Draco looked at himself and Hermione; he had one hand on her cheek and the other holding her hands. He quickly jerked up and rubbed his hands against his pants nervously. He knew that they must look very intimate sitting there together in that candle lit room.

One of the Slytherins stepped forward and with a smile did a quick sweep of the room with his eyes before turning them back on them. "Draco mate, what's going on here?"

Draco stiffened his back and glared back at the Slytherin male who was in his year. "What do you think is going on here?" He asked in a challenging voice.

"Well I just don't know. We were told this is where you hide your secret romance with that." He jerked his head at Hermione.

"Who told you that?" Draco demanded.

"Pansy." He answered simple.

"Of course." Draco said softly before glaring back at his housemates. "You're aware that Pansy's my ex and that she wants me back and that I turned her down?" They all nodded their heads. "Then I'm sure you can understand why she would try to get me back by spreading false rumors."

"If it's not true then what are you doing here with the mudblood?" Asked the same Slytherin as before, the obvious spokes man for the group.

"What do you think I'm doing here in a secluded room with a girl in the middle of the night?"

They all gave a knowing smile. "I didn't think Potter's ex pet was like that."

"It's Draco. Are you really surprised?" Asked one of the girls who gave Draco a hungry look.

"Still, it's hard to believe the bookworm is the type to sleep around. Especially with a Slytherin."

"That's the exact type I am." Hermione finally spoke up and walked forward. She looked at Draco. "Everyone has their secrets." She then snatched up her coat, which she had put on the arm of the coach, and walked past the Slytherins and out the door.

Draco followed her with his eyes but didn't move. Once she was out the door he looked angrily back at the group who all shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry if we ruined your plans mate." The leader of the group laughed nervously. "It would have been nice to see her destroyed after you bedded her and left her. Do you, do you think you'll get another chance?" He asked nervously when Draco didn't say anything and just kept glaring at him.

"I don't know." Draco snapped which made the guy flinch away from him. "Do me a favor, the next time you hear garbage coming out of Pansy's mouth ignore it."

"Yeah sure, no problem." He answered and started backing everyone out of the room.

Once the room was empty again Draco turned away from the door and angrily flung the card table across the room. "Shit!" He barked out before flopping down in front of the fireplace. He put his elbows on his knees and clutched onto his hair with both hands covering his eyes. He knew he had to let them believe that he was only there with Hermione to sleep with her and then ditch her like he was known to do in order to protect them both. If they were allowed to believe what Pansy had told them then they would tell everyone and eventually it would get back to his father and he knew how that would end. However, he hated doing it. He knew he had hurt Hermione and that things were going to get a lot worse for her at school. Before it was just rumors that people only half believed but now that there were actual eye witnesses she was really going to get it bad. But compared to the alternative this was much better. He was going to have to be really careful now. Even with the story he told he knew that there were going to be a few people that were going to question it. He was going to have to cut back the time he spent with Hermione from now on. Not that she would ever want to see him again after tonight anyways. At that moment Blaise and Ginny came into the room laughing. The laughing stopped as soon as they saw the up turned table and Draco sitting alone with a black cloud hovering around him.

Blaise set the drinks he was holding down and slowly walked towards Draco. He knew Draco was dangerous when he was like this so he was careful with his movements. "Draco?" Blaise put his hand on Draco's back which stiffened at the contacted. "What happened? Where's Granger?"

"She left."

They waited for him to elaborate but he didn't. "Is she alright?" Ginny ask while nervously eyeing the upturned table. She hoped he didn't throw it at her.

Draco pulled his hands out of his hair and looked up at her. "You should go to her." His voice lowered and he looked at the fire. "She's probably crying."

Ginny's eyes widened and she quickly took off Blaise's coat, which he had lent her when they were traveling through the dark halls, and handed it to him before she ran out of the room in search of her friend. Blaise watched her leave before turning his attention back to Draco. "What happened?" This time his voice was more demanding and Draco jerk his eyes up to him.

"We had some visitors."

"Visitors?" Blaise asked as he took a seat. Draco proceeded to tell him everything that had happened. When he was done speaking Blaise let out a growl. "Pansy's not going to stop until she destroys Granger and probably you in the process. What are you going to do?"

"Stay away from Hermione for now."

"For how long?"

"As long as it takes for people to stop talking."

"That's not going to happen any time soon." Blaise warned.

"Then I'll wait."

"If you stay away from Granger then you're giving Pansy exactly what she wants and she wins."

"I know that!" Draco snapped. "But what else am I supposed to do? I can't risk being caught with her again while people are still talking about us. There's already going to be people that are going to question what I told them, especially those who know Hermione well enough to know that she isn't the type to sleep around. I can't risk more people questioning it. My dad has ears everywhere. But I probably have nothing to worry about; it's not likely she's going to want to talk to me again after tonight. Not after I just made her life so much worse."

"I'm sure she understands why you had to do it."

"You didn't see her face. I was one of the only ones left she had to count on and I threw her to the wolves."

"Beating yourself up about it isn't going to help anything." When Draco didn't respond Blaise stood up. "Lets get out of here it's depressing."

With a heavy sigh Draco stood up and followed Blaise to the door. With a wave of his wand he extinguished the candles and the fire before he shut the door. When they made it to the bottom of the stairs a light chuckle made Draco stop in his tracks, leaning against a pillar was Zack. "Great performance up there, you almost had me believing your story."

Draco ran over to him and pinned him to the pillar with his right forearm on his throat and his left hand clutching his robes. "You! You were in on this with Pansy."

Zack didn't respond to that and just smiled wider. "Poor Hermione though. I saw her run past in tears. You really could have handled that better. Though I guess I should be thanking you."

Draco slammed Zack against the pillar and dug his wand into Zack's cheek. "How can you hurt her like that if you want her like you say you do?"

"It's just a means to an end. I'll have her anyway I can get her. But really I'm not the one who hurt her. You did, I just setup the stage." Draco let out an angry growl and punched Zack in the face. Zack just smiled despite his bleeding lip. "And while you're stuck having to avoid her I'll be there to hold her while she cries over you, I'll be there shielding her when the consequences of your words beat down on her from all sides. It will be me there and not you." Zack laughed and Draco pushed him away in disgust.

"Stay the hell away from her."

"Or you'll what?" Zack challenged.

Draco made to rush him but Blaise stopped him. "Stop Draco! This is exactly what he wants. If you hurt him he'll run and tell someone."

"I don't care!" Draco struggled against Blaise harder but Blaise clung on.

"You better care! If you rough him up enough to get suspended or even expelled then that will only keep you further away from Granger which is exactly what he wants!"

Draco calmed down enough that Blaise slowly let him go. Draco straightened his robes and glared at Zack before he turned on his heals and marched towards the Slytherin corridor. He heard Zack laugh one last time before the halls went silent.


	24. Dungeons and Dragons

The days following the incident in the tower were hard ones for Hermione and they just seemed to be getting harder. Ever since that night Hermione was being completely shunned by the other Gryffindors. Word had spread fast through the school that she had confirmed, with her own words, that she was sleeping with Draco. Instead of being harassed by her housemates, like she expected, they treated her like she didn't exist. To Hermione's surprise, this was much worse than any bullying they could do to her. When she spoke they didn't respond acting as if they didn't hear anything, if she accidentally bumped into someone they walked on as if nothing had happened, and when ever she was around them their eyes looked right through her. Their message was loud and clear, she was officially dead to them. The opposite, however, could be said about the Slytherins. They all seemed to be hyper aware of her. The boys would watch her with a penetrating gaze, trying hard to imagine what she and Draco did together, which made Hermione feel dirty and oddly exposed. The female Slytherins, on the other hand, would glare at her with an odd look of hatred, envy, and disgust. Hermione could tell that they wanted to hurt her; the only thing that held them back was the fear of Draco's wrath if they scared off his bedmate before he was through with her.

To make matters worse, she and Draco hadn't spoken to each other since that night in the tower. He had tried to setup a time for them to speak with the help of Blaise who told Ginny. But she refused to listen to any messages from him. In her head Hermione knew that Draco only did what he did in order to protect her and himself and she knew it was unfair to punish him for that, even if he had to paint her out to be a slut. But deep down, in the secret place in her heart, she wished that he would have stood up to them. That he would have told them the truth and damned with the consequences. They were friends and that was worth fighting for. She knew this wasn't realistic and he picked the lesser of two evils, but still she couldn't help but notice that with this choice she was the only one who was suffering. She couldn't help but feel betrayed, no matter how irrational or unfair it was to Draco.

One night, after a particularly hard day, Hermione found herself staring blankly at book while she hid out in the library until she was ready for bed, avoiding everyone until she had no choice but to face them. She jumped in surprise one someone kicked her chair to get her attention. Her heart beat settled down when it was Ginny who took the seat across from her.

"Enough is enough Hermione. You can't keep going like this. You'll end up in such a dark depression you won't be able to find your way out again." The concern in Ginny's voice was clearly evident.

"What would you have me do Ginny?" Hermione's voice was tired and void of any apparent emotion.

"Reconcile with Draco." She said it like it was the most obvious solution.

"Draco?" Hermione said with only slight interest.

Ginny waved her hand, dismissing the chance that her calling him by his first name was of any importance right now. " I've been hanging out with Blaise a lot lately these days. With him calling Draco by his first name all the time it was impossible not to pick it up myself." She quickly explained. "But that's hardly important right now. Will you resolve your issues with him?"

"Why do you care if I reconcile with him or not?" Hermione's voice still held the tired tone.

"Because at least when you were hanging out with him you weren't so depressed all the time. Don't think I haven't noticed Hermione. You've lost weight because you hardly eat, your eyes are always puffy from crying, I hear that you never raise your hand in class anymore, and I'm sorry to say this but you look terrible. Your clothes are always wrinkled, you let your hair get all frizzy again, and you always look like you haven't slept in a week." Ginny took a deep breath and let it out in a stead stream to calm herself down. "I'm just worried about you."

"And what do you think speaking with Draco is going to help? He's been avoiding me too, sending you with messages to me." Ginny opened her mouth to speak but Hermione spoke over her. "And he's right to do so. If we're seen together things will only get worse for me and I'm sorry Ginny but I just can't handle anymore. This is enough, I'm at my limit."

"Hermione, Blaise says Draco really wants to speak to you. Won't you just meet with him and hear what he has to say?"

Hermione gave a heavy sigh, sounding as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. "Maybe in the future, if things are different. But for now I think it's best if we keep our distance." Hermione stood up and with her back turned to Ginny said, "Tell him that I'll always care about him."

She started to walk away but Ginny stopped her. "Wait, where are you going? I still have some things I want to talk to you about."

Hermione turned around and gave her a weak smile, "Another time Ginny. I'm tired and I promised Zack that I would meet him before I went to bed."

"Zack…" Ginny said in a small voice. Blaise had told her all about Zack and what he's been doing behind Hermione's back. She didn't say anything to Hermione because she wasn't sure if her friend could handle anymore pain and betrayal from people she thought of as friends. She agreed to the plan that Draco and Blaise would work to stop him without Hermione knowing, that way she could avoid more hurt. But Hermione's statement made her question that choice. Without Draco around and her own time being split between Hermione and Blaise, Ginny had noticed that Hermione has been spending the majority of her time with him. "You shouldn't spend so much time with Zack." Ginny said carefully.

"Why not? He's been a good friend to me, especially these last few weeks. He could have followed suit with the rest of the Gryffindors but he's stood by me."

"He's not everything he pretends to be. Blaise has told me some things about him. He's dangerous Hermione."

Hermione laughed. "Dangerous? I don't think so."

"But-"

"No Ginny. No buts. He's my friend and I choose to trust him." Hermione's voice finally warmed up and held an emotion, conviction.

"You can't just blindly trust people. Look what happened the last time you did that, Harry and Ron won't even look at you these days."

Hermione quickly blinked back the tears that always followed whenever she was reminded of Harry and Ron. "I know it might be foolish to blindly trust like you say, but Zack stood by me. He ignored every rumor said about me and instead found out the truth himself. I owe him the same courtesy. I won't believe there's anything shady about him unless I see it myself."

"But he keeps it from you Hermione. All you see is what he chooses to show you."

"If you're right then I guess I'll find out the hard way. My friends might betray me, but I won't risk betraying them, not unless I'm one hundred percent sure." With that said she left the library, leaving Ginny sitting alone with her worries.

Hermione met up with Zack in a deserted class room. He had a fire going and wizard chess set setup on a desk between two chairs. He smiled warmly at her as she entered the room and gestured toward one of the chairs so they could get the game started. Hermione hesitated for a moment as Ginny's words echoed in her head but she soon shook it off. They had been meeting up in deserted class rooms for the last two weeks, if he wanted to harm her he had plenty of chances to do so already. With the certainty that he has been nothing but a loyal friend to her she sat down across from him and took one of the cookies he offered her from a box.

"How are you doing today?" Zack's voice sounded casual but Hermione saw all of his concern plainly in his eyes.

She shrugged her shoulders in response, "The same as yesterday I suppose."

He gave her a sympathetic smile, "Just bare with it for a little longer. There's only a few more months left of school. Summer break will give everyone the chance to forget all about this. Next year will be a new start, you'll see."

"I don't think people will forget that easily. The Gryffindors think that I have betrayed Harry by sleeping with the enemy. They all love Harry; they won't forgive any offense towards him easily."

"I don't know. I think once they are away from school they'll be able to look at the situation more clearly without being influenced by school politics."

"I can only hope that you're right."

The following day Ginny caught up with Hermione after classes again. She asked her if she had time to talk tonight and when she said yes, she dragged Hermione to some deserted part of the castle.

"If this is about Zack again I don't want to hear it." Hermione said stubbornly.

"It's not about Zack. I already did my duty as your friend to warn you about him, now it's on you to do what you want with the information." She took a seat on a windowsill as she continued. "This is actually about Blaise and me."

Hermione let her defenses down and relaxed. "Okay, what about you and Blaise?"

"Well as you know we just had our third date this passed weekend," Hermione nodded, she did know that, Ginny had gushed over every detail for hours. "But I wanted to wait until I was ready to tell you the best bit. Blaise asked me to be his girlfriend, officially." Ginny smiled blissfully, "And of course I said yes."

Hermione smiled, happy for her friend. "Congratulations Ginny, I know how much you wanted this."

"Thank you! I've been dying to tell you since it happened but Blaise wanted to wait, I think he wanted to make sure I didn't change my mind or something, he's crazy. Oh Hermione, he makes me so unbelievably happy."

"I really am happy for the both of you Ginny. Are you guys going to hide it from the rest of the school or be open about it?"

Ginny raised her head up stubbornly. "I have nothing to be ashamed of that I need to hide. I know people think a Gryffindor/Slytherin relationship is taboo or something but I just don't care. I know he is a good guy and that's all that matters."

Hermione bit her lip with anxiety as she thought more about it. "But Ginny, with you being Ron's little sister and Blaise being Draco's best friend they might react the same way they reacted towards me. They might see you as a trader. You don't want this Ginny, trust me."

"I'm not going to hide him like he's some dirty little secret. I understand why Draco and you did, because his dad is a total psycho, but I refuse to do it. I don't need approval from any of these people, not even my brother. If they want to hate me because of this then let them. I don't need those kinds of people in my life anyway."

"Blaise feels the same way?"

Ginny nodded her head, "We talked about it for a long time. We both feel the same way about it."

"Then I wish you both happiness." After Ginny said a warm thank you there was a short silence before Hermione broke it. "What does Draco think about you two going out?"

"I'll find out soon, Blaise is probably telling him as we speak."

Draco stared blankly at Blaise. "You're what?"

Blaise gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm dating Ginny."

"Dating as in going on dates or dating as in a relationship?"

"As in a relationship Draco come on."

"Are you serious about her?"

Blaise gave a warm smile as he thought of Ginny and Draco sat back abruptly in his chair, shocked at what he was witnessing. "Yeah mate, I'm serious about her. She's the first girl I can actual say that about."

"But Blaise, your mother and father might not be as sadistic as mine but they still run with the same crowd." Meaning the death eaters.

"Yeah well lucky for me she's a pureblood. That's the only part my parents will really care about. As you know their not as loyal to the Dark Lord as your father is. Their all about purebloods and hating mudbloods but secretly they despise the Dark Lord. They follow him out of fear, like most of his followers do."

"I guess you would know better then I would." Draco said as he stared up at the ceiling. "She really makes you happy?" Draco asked as if he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah mate, she does."

"Then I guess I'm happy for you."

Blaise smiled and thumped him on the shoulder. "Thanks, that really means a lot to me."

"Her brother isn't going to be happy about this. Is she going to tell him?"

"We decided not to hide our relationship."

"Then I hope you're ready for anything. You might not be hated by the Gryffindors like I am but as my best friend and a Slytherin they aren't going to be happy, especially her brother and Potter."

"Let them do or think whatever they want." Blaise easily dismissed his friends concern. "On to another topic, Ginny warned Granger against Zack last night."

Draco sat up straighter and brought his eyes down off the ceiling and intently on his friend. "What did she say?"

"She said she won't risk betraying a friend unless she has evidence, even if that means she'll get burned in the end."

Draco sat back again. "Of course she did." He said bitterly.

"You need to try a different approach so you can talk to her. This has gone on long enough, if you guys keep this up you're going to lose the friendship that cost you both so much to make."

"I know but what can I do? I've sent your girl with messages and I've sent her owls. She refuses to even accept them. I can't force her if she doesn't want to."

Blaise watched his friend with a steady gaze, masking his concern. "Ginny said Hermione told her to tell you that even though you two can't be around each other anymore that she will always care about you."

Draco clenched his jaw and fiercely kicked the coffee table in front of him. "I have to find a way to talk to her."

"Ambush her."

"What?"

"Ambush her." Blaise repeated. "Get her alone and force her to hear you out."

"How am I supposed to get her somewhere where no one else will be?"

Blaise gave a wicked smile, "I am dating her best friend you know. I'll ask Ginny to tell Granger to meet her somewhere and instead of finding my little fox Granger will find you instead."

"Would Weasley lie to Hermione like that?"

"Ginny thinks Hermione's depression will lift if she reconnects with you. I think she'll do it for Grangers own good."

Draco thought about it for a minute before he spoke again. "Set it up." He said firmly.

"As you wish." Blaise grinned.

The next day Blaise approached Ginny with his request and as he predicted she agreed that it was in the best interest of both their friends. She found Hermione at lunch where she pulled her aside and asked her to meet her down one of the old dungeon passageways that night after everyone else was in bed. When Hermione asked why Ginny only said that it was important and she couldn't explain it now. Hermione, being the good trusting friend that she was, agreed to Ginny's request.

Hermione was anxious all day. What did Ginny have to tell her that was so important and secretive that she had to meet her in the deserted dungeons? Time seemed to crawl by, as it often does when there is something you're anxiously waiting for, and it seemed like days instead of hours had gone by when Hermione finally found herself standing alone in the cold dungeons. The passages were lit by blue flamed torches that seemed to make it look more creepy and not less. After about ten minutes of standing there waiting she finally heard someone approaching as their foot steps echoed hollowly off the walls. When the steps grew nearer Hermione was expecting to find Ginny walking towards her and was shocked into stillness when she saw that it was Draco instead.

"Don't leave ok?" Draco said softly as he stopped in front of her.

"It was a trick?" Hermione asked breathily as she remember how to breath again.

"Don't be mad at Weasley, she was only trying to help."

"I never asked for any help." She snapped. "Things were going exactly as I wanted them to between us."

"Really? Cause to me it felt like are friendship was about to end." Draco snapped back. Before she could retort he took a deep calming breath and started again. "I don't want to fight with you. That's not why I arranged this."

"Why did you arrange it then?" Hermione kept the hostility in her voice.

"You gave me no other choice." Draco said darkly. "You ignored every attempt I made to contact you."

"I would think you'd be happy. After all I'm making sure no one finds out the truth, just like you wanted."

"You're still pissed about what I said in the tower." Draco stated calmly. He knew she was still mad about it already but he still couldn't help but feel disappointed.

"I know you came up with the best excuse you could think of for us being there alone together. And I know that you only did it to protect me from your father, who would come after us both if he knew you befriended a mudblood." She responded in a tired voice.

"If you understand then why are you still upset about it?"

"Because I would never put you in a situation where you would have to compromise all of your morals."

"You put me in that situation everyday in detention and everyday I had to trust you with my secrets. It went against my very being to have to trust you. But you kept pushing your way through me until I had to throw away everything I believed in because you affected me so much with your stupid kindness."

"Yes," Hermione answered in a small voice, "but it never led to you being shunned by the whole school."

"I'm sorry that happened, I really am but what else could I have done in that situation Hermione? Tell them the truth and risk my father hearing about it? You being shunned is the lesser of two evils."

"I don't want to argue about this. It's over and done so what's the point. Plus I'm not mad about it, not really. I'm just…disappointed I guess." She pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning against. "So if that's all I really want to get out of this cold dungeon and into my warm bed."

Draco didn't say anything for a few seconds as he stared coolly down at her. "I didn't come down here to argue either. I came here to try to preserve whatever it is we have. You lost everything from your friends to your reputation because you were so adamant about being friends. It just seems like a waste to throw it all away after everything."

"You'll always be my friend Draco. I just don't think we should risk being seen together, at least not until things blow over or were out of school."

"Not worth the risk…" Draco half asked and half stated.

"You're worth the risk." Hermione said in a hushed voice Draco had to strain to hear. "But apparently not for both of us."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco asked in a voice that rumbled deep in his chest. But before Hermione could answer they both gave a start as a high pitched yowl echoed through the dungeon. "Mrs. Norris, run!" Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and ran. But the yowl's echo had bounced off the walls making it impossible to determine which direction it had come from so they ended up running right towards Filch's cat who gave another loud yowl at the sight of them. Draco took a sharp right, pulling Hermione along with him, and ran towards a secret passageway that he knew of. They took the passage, which was hidden behind a set of stairs, and it sloped up, taking them towards the second floor of the castle. When they emerged they were both panting heavily, listening to see if they were followed. After a minute of listening Draco and Hermione grinned at each other when they didn't hear anything. But when Hermione opened her mouth to say something they heard footsteps and they were both off at a run again. Draco opened the first door he found and shoved Hermione inside and shut the door after he followed.

"Closet." Hermione breathed as she tried not to press against Draco but failed.

"Shh." Draco said as he leaned his head towards the door to listen. As he strained to listen for the approaching footsteps his attention was drawn to Hermione who was breathing too fast and who he noticed was trembling slightly against him. "Don't be scared, I doubt he'll look in here." When she didn't seem to calm down at his reassurance he started to think that her fear was coming from something else. "Hermione what's wrong?"

"The dark." She gasped out."

It was true it was dark in there, so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. "You're scared of the dark?"

"The forest, it reminds me of being in the forest. It was so dark, I couldn't see, I couldn't find my way. Death, it felt like death, cold and dark, just like this." Hermione's voice was quavering and hushed.

Draco could practically feel her panic rising. Without a thought he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him, pressing her tight against him. "I'm here." He whispered in her hair. "Feel me, I'm here." At first Hermione's body was tense against his but soon he felt her relax against him. She slowly moved her hands up and clenched the back of his robes and buried her face against his chest where she drew in his scent in slow deep breaths. After standing like that for a few minutes Draco started to loosen his hold on her. In a panic she grabbed onto him tighter.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm going to open the door. I don't hear anything out there." He opened the door and they both stumbled blindly out of the closet, the sudden light temporarily blinding them. When their vision cleared Hermione cast her eyes down in embarrassment at her irrational panic attack and Draco tried to cheer her up by making a joke. "I feel like I've step through a time machine." Hermione looked up at him questioningly. He mad a gesture at her. "This is the first time I've seen you up close in weeks. I see that frizzy hair is making a comeback. It's like first year all over again."

Hermione touched her hair self-consciously before she realized he was joking. She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed at the childish gesture and just then Harry, Ron, and their girlfriends rounded the corner and stopped dead in front of them. Hermione really shouldn't have been surprised to see them, after all Harry and Ron were famous for wandering around the castle at night. But still, Hermione gave a start and wished she could be anywhere else in the world right now but there. Of all the people to run into it just had to be them. After the group took in the scene, the closet door still open and both their clothes rumpled from running and being squeezed tight in the closet, they walked passed them. Harry and Ron avoided looking at Hermione but Harry's girlfriend sneered at them and said in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear, "She has no shame at all."

"She's so skanky." Ron's girlfriend agreed.

"Excuse me?" Draco snapped and started to walk towards them.

"Stop." Hermione said in a whisper. "Please, just let them go."

Draco would have ignored her request if he hadn't looked down and seen the look of utter pain on her face. He watched the group until they left the corridor and then turned to Hermione. "If you won't let me stick up for you then you should at least stick up for yourself." He snapped.

"I'm tired." Hermione ignored him. "Lets call it a night ok?"

Draco didn't bother to stop her as she walked away from him. He was torn between the urge to run after her and the urge to run after Potter and friends. Instead he just stood there staring at the open closet before he grabbed the door and slammed it as hard as he could. He decided he had to find away to fix this or else he would lose Hermione to her own despair.


	25. It Ends Before it Begins

The next couple of days after the incident in the closet Draco was steadily growing into a sort of panic. There were whispers in the Slytherin house about Draco and Hermione. They found it odd how long this thing with Hermione was lasting. Pansy was the only other girl Draco had spent more than a couple of weeks with and they had been dating. Some brushed it off as Draco savoring his time with the once pure Hermione Granger but one too many were starting to question it. He had to act fast before it got out of hand and word got to his father. He had a plan to solve everything but he found himself reluctant to execute it. But the more he thought about it the more he knew it was the only way.

One day at lunch when Hermione was quickly grabbing food to eat alone on the grounds, like she did every meal, she found more people than usually staring at her as they ignored their plates in front of them. She tried to ignore them and kept dishing up food but she soon found their stares too penetrating and her muscles started to tense up in a nervous panic. Something must have happened, probably some new horrific rumor that she didn't even want to imagine. Unable to bare it any longer, Hermione quickly dropped her plate and turned away from the Gryffindor table when she noticed that only half the room was staring at her, the other half was staring towards the Ravenclaw table. She followed their gaze and her hand automatically rose to clench over her heart when it started to pump painfully in her chest. Draco was straddling the bench at the Ravenclaw table, ignoring all the stares as he tucked a strand of hair behind the ear of a very attractive Ravenclaw with black hair and strikingly blue eyes who she recognized as a seventh year student named Melody. Draco leaned in to whisper something in her ear and Hermione thought how well they looked together, even though she was a year older Draco looked like a man already so her mature looks fit nicely with his. That thought made her heart surge painfully again and she quickly turned away from the love scene and had to force herself to walk steadily out of the room when every fiber of her being was screaming at her to run.

As soon as the doors closed behind her she ran as fast as she could to an empty classroom and when she leaned heavily against the door she was surprised at the moan of pain that escaped her lips. It hurt and she wouldn't let herself explore why that was. She tried to calm herself so she could think rationally. She and Draco hadn't spoken since the night they ran from Filch and before that they hadn't spoken in weeks. It was entirely possible that he met Melody during that time and started seeing her. But if that was so why hadn't Ginny mentioned anything about it to her. Surely Ginny would know about it since she was dating his best friend. No it must be a new development, which is why everyone was staring at her trying to gauge her reaction of being replaced. Lost in her thoughts she jumped as she felt the door being pushed against her back.

"Hermione it's me let me in." Ginny panted out, it was clear that she had run after Hermione. She moved aside and Ginny walked in, closing the door firmly behind her. As soon as Ginny looked at her friend pain filled her eyes. "Oh Hermione, I'm so sorry." She moved her hand to Hermione's face and wiped away the tears.

Hermione started slightly in surprise. She hadn't even realized she was crying. She reached her own fingers to her cheek and then brought them back down to examine them. Her heart gave another painful surge and she leaned heavily against the door again, no longer able to stand straight. "I don't understand." She said as she still stared at her damp fingers.

Ginny gave a small sympathetic smile and leaned against the wall next to Hermione. "You like him Hermione." Ginny said gently.

Hermione gave a half delirious laugh and started to shake her head no when realization finally hit her. She looked away from Ginny and stared unseeingly at the floor. "When?"

"You tell me. I suspected it for a while now but it wasn't until I saw your face in the Great Hall that I knew for sure."

Hermione just shook her head. "I don't know. I never realized…" She gave another moan of pain and covered her eyes. "What am I going to do Ginny? How could this have happened?" She asked desperately as she turned her gaze back on her friend.

"Fight for him!" Ginny said matter of factly.

Hermione gave a small smile and shook her head. "No Ginny. Look how hard it is for us just to be friends. It was over before it even started." Hermione lost her sad smile and looked back across the room. "Besides it's obvious he doesn't feel the same way."

"Maybe if he knew how you felt…" Ginny trailed off.

Hermione shook her head again. "Even if that would change anything it would still be impossible."

Hermione." Ginny's tone was trying to be reasoning.

Hermione took a deep breath and pushed herself off the door. Her back was towards Ginny for a few moments but when she turned back around her face was dry. "Lets keep this between us ok?"

Ginny took a few steps towards her friend. "Then what are you going to do?"

She gave a warm smile. "It's best to end it now before these feelings get any stronger." With that said she walked out the door, leaving Ginny standing stunned and alone in the empty class room.

"I'm afraid it's already too late for that Hermione." Ginny said in a low voice as she stared at the closed door.

After quidditch practice that day Blaise stopped Draco and waited for their other team members to leave the locker room. "What's going on with you?" He finally asked as the door closed behind their last team mate.

"I don't know what you mean." He said coolly as he pulled away from Blaise.

"Since when are you with Melody?" He asked impatiently.

Draco smirked. "Well I'm not really _with _Melody, if you catch my drift." When Blaise didn't smirk along with him he lost his smile. "What's the big deal? It's been awhile so I thought I'd get back into the game."

"That's the problem. I thought you were done playing games. I thought you wanted something more."

"Something more?" Draco asked with a smirk. "I don't think you can get much more than what I'm getting from Melody."

Blaise studied Draco for a few moments trying to assess if he was being sincere or not. He finally gave up when he couldn't tell and asked in a serious voice, "What about Granger?"

"What does she have to do with this?" Asked Draco but Blaise's brow furrowed and he didn't say anything. "What?" Draco demanded as the silence grew heavier.

"That's it? You're just back in the game?"

"Yeah mate that's it." Draco smiled. "I don't understand the problem."

Blaise shrugged and his voice lightened up a bit. "There's no problem as long as that's really it."

Draco smiled and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "That's really it. What else would it be?"

"I thought this might be a way for you to try and end the rumors about you and Granger."

Draco smiled. "You do know me well."

Blaise's eyes lit up. "So that's it? You're just hooking up with this girl to end the rumors?"

"Well that's how the idea started." He stated simple.

"But?" Blaise asked.

"But it's been awhile since I played around and the only reason why I stopped was because things in my life were already too complicated with trying to decide to be friends with Hermione or not. I didn't want to put girl drama on top of all that. So now I get to kill two birds with one stone. I get to help Hermione out and have some fun for myself as well."

Blaise was having a hard time buying all of this. He believed that Draco came up with this as the best solution to help out Hermione but he was also sure he had grown out of all of this.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked when Blaise didn't respond.

Blaise smiled, "You're probably going to think I'm mad."

"What is it?" Draco persisted.

"Well with how hard you've been fighting to keep Granger in your life I kinda had the feeling that you were into her." Blaise smiled. Draco lost his smile and looked down. Blaise's eyes got wide. "You do like her don't you."

"I don't." Draco protested before he gave a heavy sigh and sat down on one of the benches that were stationed between the rows of lockers. "She has left a big impact on me though. Every time I think about how much she gave up and how much she goes through just to be my friend it amazes me. She has such a strong sense of loyalty and justice, I don't think there is anyone else in the world like her." He looked back up at his friend. "Which is why I have to protect her."

Blaise gave a sympathetic smile. "Alright mate, do what you have to do." He put his hand out and helped Draco stand up. "I just hope you're not lying to yourself." Blaise said low enough that it didn't reach Draco's ears as they walked out of the locker room.

The following weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend and a big weekend for firsts. It would be the first date Draco would be taking Melody out, he chose a Hogsmeade outing because he knew they would be seen by a lot of students, and it would also be the first time Ginny and Blaise would be coming out as a couple.

"Please Hermione you have to come." Ginny was begging for what seemed like the hundredth time."

"Ginny I already told you that I don't want to get in the way of your date. Plus I don't want to be a third wheel."

"I already told you it's not a date. We are just going to hang out as a couple."

"I don't know why you want me to go so bad. I'll just get in the way."

"Hermione I need you there." Ginny pleaded sincerely. "Blaise and I are coming out as a couple and I need my best friends support, because I know I wont be getting my brothers."

Hermione looked at her friend with concern. She knew Ginny would never admit it but she loved Ron a lot and it was going to be hard for her to not have his support. "Alright Ginny I'll go for you."

Ginny gave a sigh of relief and threw her arms around Hermione. "Thank you."

The next morning Hermione found herself standing at the edge of town with Ginny and Blaise. "You ready for this?" She turned to Ginny.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Ginny answered a little nervously.

"We don't have to do this." Blaise said as he grabbed Ginny's hand. "If it's going to be too hard for you I don't mind keeping it a secret."

Ginny smiled warmly up at him before she took a tighter grip of his hand and started walking into the town.

"You're sure about this?" Blaise asked again. He knew it would be her and not him that would have the hardest time with this because of the other people in her house.

Ginny stopped walking and looked back up at him. "I'm proud to have you by my side and I want everyone to know it."

He smiled down at her and then gave her a brief kiss. "Then lets give these losers something to talk about." He put his arm firmly around her waist and they walked with confident steps into town.


	26. War and Love

Hogsmeade was turning out just like Hermione had predicted it would, with everyone staring at them. Most people just watched them from a distance but a few brave souls, all of which were either Ginny or Blaise's friends, approached them and asked what was going on. To this Blaise and Ginny would simply answer that they were going out before they walked away, letting their friends react in private. Fortunately, they hadn't run into Ron and Harry yet, but Hermione knew that word would soon reach them and it wouldn't be long before Ron came looking for them.

To Hermione's surprise she was actually having a good time with the new couple. She found Blaise to be funny and smart and she got to witness first hand how sweet he was to Ginny. Overall the day was going really well, that is until they went into Tomes and Scrolls. Hermione had wandered off away from the other two and was flipping through a book when she heard a thud and Ginny's unmistakable voice, "Let go of him!"

Hermione quickly placed the book down and withdrew her wand as she ran towards a secluded corner of the store where she had last left Ginny and Blaise. When she turned the corner she froze as she took in the scene in front of her. Ron had Blaise pinned against a book case and Harry was holding a struggling Ginny back.

Ginny had been yelling at Ron but he had been ignoring her until she said, "If you hurt him Ronald I will never forgive you!"

Ron kept Blaise pinned with his wand pointed at his chest as he looked over at his sister, "Tell me it isn't true Ginny. Tell me you aren't dating this scumbag, because if you are I'm really going to lose it, I really am." Hermione could see a vain pulsating fast in Ron's neck, a sign of how mad he really was. She also noticed a trickle of blood running down Blaise's cheek, he had been knocked pretty hard on the head and Hermione could see him struggling to focus his eyes.

Ginny didn't answer but her silence was answer enough. Ron turned his attention back on Blaise with a grunt and slammed him against the book shelf again, causing a few books to fall down on the both of them. Ron didn't seem to take notice but one had hit Blaise on the head and he hissed in pain. "Stop it Ron!" Ginny pleaded with tears in her voice as she watched Blaise carefully.

Ron opened his mouth to speak but before any words came out Hermione stepped forward. "That's enough Ron, let him go. Can't you see that he's really hurt?"

All eyes were now on her and she almost took a step back at the raw fury in Ron's eyes. "You," he exclaimed before he pushed Blaise to the side. "This is your fault." He pointed a finger at her and took a step towards her.

"No Ron it's not, I've liked-" Ginny tried to protest.

"Shut up Ginny!" Ron snapped at her before turning his attention back on Hermione. "Because you've been slutting it up with that piece of shit Malfoy you've got my sister involved with this trash." He gestured towards Blaise who was leaning heavily against the wall. "Don't bring my sister down with you," he spat in disgust. "What did you do, brainwasher her?"

Hermione felt tears burning her eyes but she held them back and tried her best to steal her nerves. She glanced over at Harry, who was staying silent, but quickly looked away when she saw the nasty look he was giving her. He was clearly there to back Ron up if he needed it. "Ron, Blaise isn't a bad guy, if you would just-"

"Just what," Ron interrupted, "give him a chance?" He gave a harsh laugh and stared right into her eyes. "You've got to be kidding me. What, you've been shacking up with one Slytherin now you think their all good? Next you'll be saying He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is just 'misunderstood.' Well I'm sorry _Granger_ but I won't let you corrupt my sister with your Slytherin loving bullshit." Ron turned his back on her and walked back to Ginny. He grabbed her roughly from Harry and was trying to pull her away but she was struggling hard to get to Blaise.

"Get your hands off of her," Blaise said as he took a shaky step forward.

"Or you'll what?" Ron demanded a little manically. Blaise raised his wand in reply but Harry quickly snatched it out of his hand. Ron pushed Ginny at Harry again, who took a tight hold around her, and started for Blaise with his own wand raised. Before he could utter a spell his wand flew out of his hand and he watched it as it flew into Hermione's out stretched hand. "Bitch," Ron growled as he charged after her.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear and she took two stumbling steps back when she tripped over a book display. Ron was right in front of her but before he could reach for her he went stiff as a board and fell right on top of her. Hermione was only struggling under his solid body for a few brief moments when two strong hands pulled him off of her and carelessly pushed him aside. She looked up wide eyed at her savior. Draco was towering over her and with out a word he grabbed her hands and pulled her up. He then turned his attention to Harry who had released Ginny and was drawing his wand.

"I'd stop moving if I were you," Draco's voice was low and lethal. Harry froze as he saw Draco's wand pointed straight at Ron's face. "Hermione, grab Potters wand and make sure you get Blaise's from him. Move Potter and I'll make sure your friend here will never be able to get a date again." Harry narrowed his eyes at him but stayed very still as Hermione took both wands from him. Once she had them she backed quickly away and knelt down with Ginny, who was looking at Blaise's head wound with soft hands. Draco backed out of the isle of books, keeping his wand pointed at Ron the whole time. "Now get your friend and leave before I decide not to let you." The binding spell was lifted from Ron and Harry helped him stand up. They both stared daggers at Draco as they made their way slowly past him. Draco followed them and made sure they left the store before he lowered his wand. When he turned into the isle he saw Hermione casting a healing spell on Blaise as she steadied him with a firm hand on his arm. He put his hand on Blaise's shoulder and looked into his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now." He gave a brief appreciative smile to Hermione before turning his attention back to Draco. "Thanks hero, you came just in time."

Draco gave a smirk and stepped away from him. "What happened?"

"Harry and my brother were hiding behind the bookshelf when they ambushed us." Ginny spoke with rising anger. "Harry grabbed me and when Blaise's attention was on us Ron used a spell to send that," she gestured to a very thick book on the floor, "at Blaise's head."

"Dirty." Draco answered. Ginny just nodded her head and started fusing over Blaise again, who smiled and murmured softly to her. Draco looked over at Hermione and then quickly marched over to her. "You're bleeding," he stated as he grabbed her left arm and turned it slightly to the right to look at the long gash running down her forearm.

"Oh," Hermione said a little surprised. "I didn't even notice. It's nothing, only a scratch." She tried to pull her arm away but Draco gripped it tighter and pointed his wand at the wound and healed it before letting her go. "Thanks," she mumbled as she rubbed the spot where the cut had been.

Draco looked her in the eyes, "He was going to hurt you."

"No, he wouldn't-"

"Yes, Hermione, he would." He took a step forward and put his hand against her cheek and looked into her eyes with a fierce intensity. "You can't trust them anymore. You need to remember that incase this ever happens again."

Hermione didn't say anything, just looked up into his storm grey eyes and leaned her head slightly into his touch. His eyes slowly softened and he moved his thumb gently across her jaw line. "Draco-" Hermione started softly but was interrupted by an exasperated voice.

"There you are!"

Draco quickly moved away from Hermione and cleared his throat. "Yeah, Melody, sorry, I didn't mean to ditch you so suddenly."

"That's alright." She smiled brightly up at him as she grabbed his arm and pulled on it. "Should we go finish what we started?" She asked seductively.

Draco glanced quickly over to Hermione, who now had her back turned to him, before turning his attention back to Melody. "Sure. Are you positive you're ok now Blaise?"

"Yeah mate, go and have fun." Blaise smiled as he put his arm around Ginny's shoulders. "Oh, and thanks again." Draco just nodded his head and headed out of the store with Melody on his arm. Blaise turned his attention to Ginny who was touching his head again. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, "I'm fine really, you don't need to worry anymore."

"I'm so sorry Blaise, my brother-"

"You don't apologize for him." Blaise said seriously as he looked into her eyes. "That was all him and Potter."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears and she looked down. "I know but I should have stopped it, I'm a witch for God's sake. I just can't believe he would take it so far."

Blaise smiled gently down at her and wiped his thumb across her cheek, brushing away a tear. "They played dirty, attacking us when our backs were turned. There was nothing either of us could have done." He lifted her face so she would meet his eyes, "Alright?" Ginny nodded and Blaise gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

Ginny smiled at him then looked over at Hermione and lost her smile. Ginny pulled her eyes off of her and looked back up at Blaise, "Hey can you give me a minute with Hermione, girl talk you know."

"Of course, I'll wait for you outside." He gave her another quick kiss before he walked away.

Ginny watched him leave before she turned towards Hermione, who still had her back turned. She put a gentle hand on Hermione's shoulder, "Hermione-"

"I'm alright, Ginny." She said in a thick voice. She quickly wiped at her face before she turned to face her friend. "It's just hard," she took in a shuttering breath, "it's so much harder than I thought it would be. I want to forget about him but it still hurts," she gestured weakly to the empty space that Draco and Melody had occupied.

Ginny pulled Hermione into a hug, "It will get easier, I promise. You just need more time."

Hermione just nodded her head against Ginny's shoulder. She knew Ginny was right, she just didn't know if she could wait that long.

The days that followed were uneventful ones. Ginny and Blaise's relationship was generally accepted with out too much fuss. Even though Blaise was a Slytherin he was generally liked by all. The only mark against him, in the eyes of the Gryffindors especially, was that he was best friends with Malfoy, but most were willing to over look that since he mostly kept to himself. The Slytherins were willing to accept their relationship with minimal disgust because they all knew how hard it was to find a pure blood that wasn't related to them in one way or another and they were willing to assume that that was why Blaise chose her. Hermione was even being treated a little nicer. People still avoided her but the bullying had let up, though not completely, but some people were willing to feel sorry for her for being ditched so coldly by Malfoy.

One night while Hermione was heading out of the common room she was stopped by Zack. "Hey," he smiled at her, "I was just looking for you. Where are you headed?"

She returned his smile and answered, "I was just about to go to the library for a bit."

"Oh, I just came from there." He watched her carefully as he spoke up again. "I saw Malfoy and that Ravenclaw girl of his. They were having a little fun in a dark corner." Pain flashed across Hermione's face and Zack let out a sigh. "Come over here for a second," he grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty class room. Once he shut the door he turned abruptly to face Hermione. "You need to forget about him Hermione. He's no good for you."

"What?" Hermione smiled nervously. "I don't-"

"He'll never care about you like that Hermione!" He cut her off sharply. "I bet it's a struggle for him to even be friends with you. " Hermione bit her lip but didn't respond. "You need to let him go."

Hermione turned her back to him and looked out the window. "I don't know what you're talking about Zack. Draco and I…he's just my friend." She finished weakly.

"You can't fool me Hermione. I notice everything about you. I see how painful it is for you every time you see him and Melody together." In a quieter voice he said, "I see how you look at him." Hermione stayed silent but he could see her shoulders tense and watched as she brushed at her cheeks. He took a few long strides over to her and wrapped his arms above her chest and pulled her against him. She stayed very still and kept her eyes locked out of the window. He brought his head down to her ear. "I hate seeing you cry over him. I'm the one you should be with. I could make you happier than he ever could and I could love you greater." He pulled her a little tighter against him. "It would take a little time, but I could make you forget all about him." He kissed the nape of her neck and whispered, "Be mine Hermione." He then stepped away from her. "Haven't I stood by you no matter what?" She nodded her head slowly. "Then will you at least think about it, really think about it? About all that I could give you, about how much fun we have together?"

"Yes," she said softly, "I'll think about it."

"Good," he hesitated for a moment then walked back over to her and kissed the top of her head before he turned around and left the room.

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**A/N- Sorry for the long wait on the update. I hope you guys liked this chapter. If you see any mistakes, spelling or grammar, please let me know. Review and let me know what you think so far. Thanks for reading!**


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